ANIMAL  AND  VEGETABLE 
PARASITES 

OF  THE 

Human  Skin  and  Hair. 

BY 

B.  JOY   JEFFRIES,  A.M.,M.D. 

FELLOW  OF    THE   MASSACHUSETTS    MEHICAL    SOCIETY;    MEMI5ER  OF  THE  AMEBICAN 
OPHTHALMOLOGICAL    SOCIETY;    OPHTHALMIC  SURGEON    TO    THF,    MASSACHU- 
SETTS CHARITABLE  EYE  AND  EAR  INFIRMAEY;  OPHTHALMIC  STTEGEON 
TO  THE  CAENEY  HOSPITAL;   LECTURER  ON  OPTICAL  PHENOMENA, 
AND     THE    EYE,    AT    HARVARD    UNIVERSITY;     LATG 
LECTURER  ON  DISEASES  OF  THE  SKIN  AT 
BEBK8HIBE  MEDICAL  COLLEGE. 


BOSTON : 

ALEXANDER     MOORE, 

1872. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872,  by 

Alexander  Moore, 

la  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  "Washington. 


•TBBEOTTPED  BY  JOHN  C.  BKQAN  &  OO. 
65  Congress  Street 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Animal  Parasites  of  the  Human  Skin  ...  7 
Vegetable  Parasites  of  the  Human  Skin  .  .  55 
False  Parasites  of  the  Human  Body      .     .     .87 


(V) 


H*^^> 


70GU20 


Eiometisal 
Library 

ANIMAL    PARASITES 

OF  THE   HUMAN  SKIN. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Man's  cutaneous  envelope,  like  the  integument 
of  the  lower  animals,  is  subject  to  be  temporarily 
visited  bj  parasites,  or  perhaps  become  a  perma- 
nent abode  for  them.  However  unpleasant  this 
idea  may  seem,  only  too  many  of  the  human  family 
in  the  most  civilized  countries  are  annoyed  or  ren- 
dered miserable  by  the  presence  of  the  animal  para- 
sites. Amongst  the  poor  and  dirty,  the  unfortunate 
children  suffer  a  great  deal  from  them,  and  we  have 
seen  serious  trouble  arise  from  their  ravages.  But 
all  classes  of  the  community  are  liable  to  be  infested 
by  them , — the  wealthiest  and  the  cleanest.  Among 
the  lower  classes,  prejudice,  ignorance,  and  even 
superstition,  help  to  favor  the  production  and  con- 
tinued existence  of  these  parasites ;  and  in  the  upper 

(7) 


8  ANIMAI.   PARASITES 

classes  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  their  nature,  and 
the  means  to  avoid  or  get  rid  of  them.  The 
mental  agony  of  a  young  lady  on  finding  her 
auburn  tresses  the  home  of  the  only  too  common 
insect,  can  only  be  appreciated  by  those  who  have 
realized  it.  We  have  known  the  most  refined  to 
sufier  thus  for  months,  merely  from  shame  to 
apply  to  a  physician,  or  ignorance  of  the  very 
simple  means  necessary  to  be  freed  from  what 
is  naturally  regarded  as  so  loathsome.  Where 
soap  and  water  are  attainable,  man  can  keep  his 
body  clear  of  these  animals.  If  every  teacher  in 
the  public  schools  could  be  authorized  to  send  a 
child  so  infested  home,  and  at  the  same  time  knew 
enough  to  direct  the  mother  or  family  what  to  do 
to  relieve  the  child  of  its  trouble,  it  would  at 
least  be  a  comfort  to  those  physicians  who,  in  at- 
tendance at  the  great  charitable  institutions,  come 
necessarily  in  immediate  contact  with  the  thou- 
sands of  poor  people  and  their  little  ones,  whom 
sickness  and  misery  are  constantly  sending  there. 
The  animal  parasites  are  the  pest  of  the  public 
schools.  Neglect  and  ignorance  alone  foster  their 
presence.  By  explaining  the  natural  history,  the 
habits,   habitats,    methods    of  propagating,    and 


OF   THE   HUJMAN   SKIN.  9 

means  of  getting  rid  of  these  animals,  we  hope 
to  be  able  to  assist  our  readers  in  keeping  a  mens 
Sana  in  corjpore  sano, —  a  sound  mind  in  a  healthy 
and  cleanly  body. 

The  animal  parasites  of  the  human  skin  may  be 
divided  into  two  classes  ;  those  which  live  on  the 
skin,  and  those  which  live  in  the  skin.  We  will 
commence  our  study  with  those  of  the  first  class, 
namely,  the  pediculi,  of  which  there  are  three 
kinds, — the  head-louse,  the  crah-louse,  and  the 
hody-louse.  The  first  of  these  is  met  with  only 
on  the  hair  of  the  head ;  it  is  entirely  confined  to 
the  scalp,  and  never  attacks  the  other  hairy  parts 
of  the  body.  It  is  unfortunately  too  familiar  an 
object  to  require  any  special  delineation  of  it  to 
be  given  here.  The  color  varies,  livid  or  pale 
gray,  and  is  said  to  change  according  to  the  hair. 
The  male  insects  are  fewer  in  number  than  the 
females ;  the  latter  are  also  much  larger.  They 
have  three  pairs  of  legs,  and  all  the  feet  are  sim- 
ilar. The  last  tarsal  joint  has  a  large  claw  on  its 
outside,  and  on  its  inside  two  straight,  thick, 
horny  stumps,  and  a  large  bristle.  A  microscope 
of  moderate  magnifying  power  will  show  this 
structure  of  the  animal. 


10  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

When  the  eggs  are  laid,  they  stick  firmly  to  the 
human  hair,  and  are  called  nits.  This  we  will 
more  particularly  explain  further  on.  In  six 
days  the  young  escape  from  the  Q^g^,  and  are 
ready  to  lay  eggs  at  the  age  of  eighteen  days.  A 
female  lays  some  fifty  eggs  in  all.  We  thus  see 
why  such  enormous  quantities  of  the  animals  are 
often  seen,  and  how  they  propagate  with  such 
astonishing  rapidity. 

It  is  easy  enough  to  tell  when  a  person  is  in- 
fested with  these  vermin,  because  the  animals 
creep  about  upon  the  head,  and  their  eggs  are 
large  enough  to  betray  themselves  to  thd"  naked 
eye,  especially  on  dark  hair.  As  the  insect  can 
run  about,  the  eggs  will  be  found  strung  along  the 
whole  length  of  the  hair. 

We  said  this  kind  inhabits  only  the  scalp,  where, 
by  their  creeping  about,  but  more  especially  by 
their  biting  the  skin,  in  pursuit  of  nourishment, 
they  cause  intense  and  constant  itching,  and  hence 
intense  and  constant  scratching  on  the  part  of  the 
person  infested.  We  all  know  how  tender  the 
scalp  is  made  by  hard  brushing,  combing,  or  vio- 
lent shampooing,  and  can  therefore  readily  under- 
stand that  the   constant  digging  the  finger-nails 


OF   THE    HUMAN    SKIN.  11 

into  the  skin  of  the  head  to  allay  the  itching,  will 
finally  cause  inflammation  of  the  cutaneous  surface. 
An  artificial  eczema,  as  dermatologists  call  it,  is 
produced,  and  this  all  the  more  in  those  persons, 
children  for  instance,  who  are  predisposed  to 
eczematous  eruptions.  This  inflammation  causes 
a  fluid  to  exude  from  the  skin,  which,  with  the 
blood  coming  from  where  the  cuticle  has  been 
deeply  torn  by  the  nails,  dries  up  and  forms  crusts 
and  scales,  mixed  also  with  the  natural  fatty  secre- 
tion of  the  scalp,  from  the  sebaceous  follicles. 
Hence  the  loathsome  appearance  which  such  a  head 
presents.  Moreover,  the  greater  the  amount  of 
exuded  fluid,  the  greater  amount  of  food  for  these 
vermin,  and  the  more  rapid  their  growth  and  mul- 
tiplication. Thus  we  see  that  the  irritation  of  the 
lice  caused  itching ;  this  led  to  the  scratching, 
which,  continued  for  a  length  of  time,  produced  an 
artificial  eczema,  or  inflammation  of  the  skin.  The 
exuded  fluid  of  eczema  is  food  for  the  pedicuU, 
under  the  crusts  and  scales  the  animals  can  hide  ; 
the  matted  hair  affords  better  opportunity  for  the 
eggs  or  7iits  to  hatch,  and  so  a  person  who  has 
eczema  of  the  head  offers  a  much  better  field  for 
the  cultivation  and  propagation  of  these  vermki. 


12  ANIMAI.   PARASITES 

Now  dirt  and  poverty  predispose  to  eczematous 
eruptions ;  and  those  with  such  disease  are,  in 
these  circumstances  of  life,  more  liable  to  come  im 
contact  with  others  infested  with  pedicuU,  and 
thus  the  animals  are  transferred  from  one  person 
to  another.  We  all  know  how  quickly  one  infested 
head  in  a  school,  or  public  institution,  affects  the 
other  children,  even  when  considerable  care  and 
cleanliness  are  exercised.  But  these  insects 
never  come  except  from  contagion.  The  vermin 
crawl  from  one  person  to  another.  The  eggs  or 
nits  are  not  transferred,  for  these  adhere  tena- 
ciously to  the  hairs  where  they  are  deposited  by 
the  female  insect.  All  stories  of  the  spontaneous 
generation  of  these  or  any  other  vermin  are  simply 
ridiculous,  and  arise  from  ignorance,  and  the  lack 
of  accurate  and  truthful  observation.  Care  and 
cleanliness  are  necessary  on  the  part  of  all  who  are 
forced  to  come  in  immediate  contact  with  the  dirty 
and  squalid.  Some  sympathy,  we  hold,  should 
be  felt  by  the  community  for  physicians  who  are 
obliged  to  do  this,  as  it  is  quite  as  disagreeable 
for  them  as  for  others.  Moreover,  to  say  they 
are  used  to  it  is  no  argument,  since   the  getting 


OF   THE    HUMAN   SKIN.  13 

used  to  it  involves  what  others  uever  have  to  un- 
dergo. 

Probably  the  human  race  all  over  the  world 
are  infested  more  or  less  with  pedicuU ,  It  is  even 
doubtfnl  whether  there  are  different  species  of  this 
insect,  or  pecUculus  capitis.  One  observer  thought 
he  found  a  particular  species  on  African  negroes. 
Lice  are  described  as  being  rare  among  the  Bra- 
zilian Indians,  and  among  the  Indians  of  Magda- 
lena,  in  Columbia  ;  but  travellers  have  found  them 
among  the  New  Hollanders,  and  the  Asiatic  and 
American  Indians.  Their  dried  brood  has  been 
found  in  the  hair  of  the  Peruvian  mummies.  At 
one  time,  it  was  asserted  that  there  was  a  partic- 
ular pedicidus  tabescentium,  or  louse  of  the  con- 
sumptive, and  good  people  rather  preferred  to  be 
supposed  to  have  them  than  the  common  head- 
louse,  which,  however,  they  ivere. 

The  next  animal  parasite  of  tlie  human  skin, 
whose  natural  history  we  will  study,  is  thQ  pedicu- 
lies  pubis,  or  crab-louse,  which  resembles  the 
pedicuhis  capitis,  but  is  shorter  and  broader.  It 
does  not  run  about  on  the  surface,  but  grasps  *the 
hair  close  down  to  the  skin  with  its  fore-legs, 
which  are  provided  with   strong  crab-like  claws. 


14  ANIMAL    PARASITES 

The  animal  holds  on  so  tight,  that  it  will  be 
crushed  before  it  relaxes  the  grasp  of  the  hair ; 
it  deposits  its  eggs,  the  nits,  on  the  hair,  just  as 
the  pediculus  capitis  does ;  but  as  it  cannot  run 
about,  these  are  always  placed  on  the  hair  close  to 
the  skin,  and  hence  often  overlooked.  To  this  wc 
shall  recur  again,  when  speaking  of  the  treatment  of 
these  vermin.  This  animal  lives  on  all  the  haired 
portions  of  the  body  except  the  scalp,  which  is  the 
domain  of  the  pediculus  capitis.  They  never  in- 
terfere with  each  other.  When  both  are  present 
on  the  same  person,  the  head-louse  will  be  found 
on  the  hair  of  the  head,  down,  for  instance,  to  the 
whisker,  and  never  below ;  whilst  the  crab-louse 
infests  the  whiskers  up  to  the  scalp,  which  he  never 
occupies ;  he  does,  however,  take  possession  of 
the  eyebroAVs  and  eyelashes.  Why  this  is,  is  not 
yet  known.  The  insect  is  transferred  from  one 
individual  to  another  by  contact,  and  by  the  agency 
of  clothes,  linen,  and  beds.  It  is  said  to  be  most 
abundant  in  southern  climates. 

This  pediculus  lives  on  human  blood,  and,  in 
obtaining  it  from  the  skin  by  biting  deeply  and 
firmly,  it  causes  often  considerable  irritation, 
varying,  of  course,  Avitli  the  cutaneous  sensibility 


OF   THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  15 

of  the  person  affected.  .  This  itching  calls  for 
scratching,  which  finally  produces  a  papular,  or 
eczematous  eruption,  the  seat  of  which,  however, 
points  towards  the  cause,  and  a  careful  examin- 
ation will  detect  the  pediculi  on  the  hair  close  to 
the  skin,  and  the  nits  also  near  by.  As  these 
parasites  do  not  cause  so  much  irritation  as  the 
loediculi  cajpitis,  and  infesting  portions  of  the  body 
covered  by  the  clothing,  they  often  remain  unob- 
served, frequently  living  and  thriving  on  an  indi- 
vidual for  an  indefinite  period,  especially  among 
those  whose  change  of  raiment  or  ablutions  occur 
about  as  often  as  the  equinoxes,  but  not  with  the 
same  regularity.  The  ravages  of  the  head-louse, 
and  the  ravages  of  the  finger-nails  and  comb  to 
allay  the  itching  of  the  scalp,  often  produce,  as  we 
said,  an  artificial  eczema,  or  inflammation  of  the 
skin,  which,  when  long  continued  and  excessive, 
may  finally  cause  the  glands  in  the  neighborhood 
to  swell  up  or  break  down  into  abscesses  on  the 
neck,  for  instance,  or  behind  the  ears.  This  rarely 
occurs  with  the  pediculus  pubis;  yet  in  a  person 
predisposed  to  glandular  swellings,  the  glands  in 
the  groin  may  swell  up  from  long-continued 
scratching,  and  consequent  eczematous  eruptions, 


16  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

from  this  insect.  But  pustules  are  not  so  readily 
caused  on  the  other  haired  portion  of  the  body  as 
on  the  scalp ;  moreover,  the  head  being  uncov- 
ered, is  readily  scratched  when  infested  by  ver- 
min, and  the  deep  digging  of  the  finger-nails  is 
more  irritating  than  the  rubbing  of  the  clothes. 

The  third  and  last  pediculus  to  be  described  is 
the  jjediculus  vestimenti,  clothes-louse,  or  body- 
louse.  It  is  similar  to  the  pediculus  capitis  in 
external  form,  only  larger,  the  principal  distinc- 
tion being  the  size.  It  is  whitish  in  color,  and 
from  one-twelfth  to  one-sixth  of  an  inch  in  length. 
There  are  three  legs  on  each  side,  having  four 
joints,  and  terminating  in  claws.  The  habitat,  or 
place  of  living  of  the  insect,  is  the  clothes,  in  the 
folds  and  seams  of  which  the  eggs  are  deposited, 
appearing  as  little  yellowish-white  shining  dots. 
It  feeds  by  biting  the  skin  —  principally  those 
parts  nearest  its  haunt :  namely,  where  the  clothes 

come  in  most  immediate  and  constant  contact  withi 

I 
the  cutaneous  surface.    Hence  its  ravages  are  seen) 

on  the  neck,  l)ack,  and  shoulders,  around  the  waist, I 

and  wherever  bands  or  straps  give  a  resting-place 

for  the  insects,  an  opportunity  for  the  eggs  to 

hatch  undisturbed,  and  hy  lack  of  change  of  ap- 


I 


OF   THE    HUMAN   SKIN.  17 

pare],  a  constant  field  of  food.  But  though  the 
skin  is  mostly  afiected  at  these  parts,  any  portion 
of  it  which  is  covered  may  sIioav  signs  of  the  ver- 
min, since  the  patient  will  not  only  scratch  where 
the  insect  bites,  but  any  part  of  the  cutaneous 
surface ;  it  being  a  well-known  fact,  that  to  allay 
the  sensation  of  itching  it  is  not  necessary  to 
scratch  exactly  where  the  source  of  irritation 
exists. 

Since  the  insect  lives  in  the  recesses  of  the 
clothes,  and  sallies  forth  from  there  to  prey  upon 
the  skin  for  existence,  a  person  so  affected  is  quite 
free  of  vermin  when  naked,  a  few  adhering  to  the 
skin,  whilst  the  clothinsr  removed  mav  be  a  livino; 
mass  of  them.  It  is  the  constant  wearing  of  the 
same  clothing,  therefore,  which  affords  a  perma- 
nent home  for  these  insects.  According  to  the 
numbers  present,  and  the  cutaneous  sensibility  of 
the  individual  infested,  will  be  the  amount  of  irri- 
tation produced,  and  the  consequent  amount  of 
scratching.  At  first  the  slight  itching  occasions 
only  streaks  of  white  or  red  from  the  marks  of  the 
finger-nails,  but  afterwards  excoriations  are  seen 
from  the  further  injury  of  the  skin.  These  exco- 
riations, will  have  little  drops  of  dried  blood,  the 


18  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

skin  becomes  quite  red,  aud,  as  with  the  other 
forms  of  pediculi,  exhibits  the  scabs  described  — 
papules,  vesicles,  and  pustules.  When  the  insects 
have  preyed  upon  the  individual  for  a  long  time, 
the  continued  irritation  causes  continued  conges- 
tion and  infiltration,  increasing  the  deposit  of  pig- 
ment in  the  skin,  which  finally  becomes  rougher, 
darker,  and  thicker  than  natural  —  sometimes  ab- 
solutely as  black  as  the  negro's. 

The  presence  of  these  vermin,  as  with  the  other 
kiuds,  cause,  from  the  scratching,  artificial  ecze- 
matous  eruptions,  and  in  general  call  forth,  on  the 
cutaneous  surface,  any  disease  of  this  tissue  to 
which  the  individual  so  afiected  is  liable,  or  pre- 
disposed to.  The  enormous  numbers  of  these 
vermin  which  have  at  times  been  seen,  and  their 
apparently  rapid  production,  has  given  rise  to  the 
idea  that  they  were  also  generated  spontaneously. 
But  this,  as  we  said  above,  is  owing  to  incorrect 
observation  and  erroneous  deduction.  The  jjed- 
iculi  vestimenti^  like  the  other  pediculi,  thrive  best 
when  let  alone,  and  where  morbid  cutaneous  se- 
cretions attract  them.  They  may  be  always 
detected  on  the  clothing,  if  not  on  the  body.    The 


OF  THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  19 

general  domain  of  their  ravages  tells  the  derma- 
tologist what  insect  he  has  to  deal  with. 

In  the  old  days  of  superstition  and  credulity, 
the  death  of  any  person  specially  noted  in  history 
was  very  apt  to  be  attributed  by  those  succeeding 
them,  or  those  who  wrote  their  history,  to  the 
ravages  of  these  several  forms  of  lice,  especially 
this  last  —  the  clothes-louse.  For  instance,  Aris- 
totle relates  that  the  poet  Alcmanes,  and  the 
Syrian  Pherecydes,  died  of  ^^/^^Amas/s;  i.  e.,  of 
insects  living  on  the  body.  Other  more  recent 
authors  report  the  same  of  Herod,  Sylla,  even 
Plato,  Philip  the  Second,  and  so  on.  However, 
nowada^^s,  we  understand  that  a  person  lying  in 
bed  sick,  unable  to  move,  uncleansed  and  neglected 
from  superstition  or  otherwise,  will  soon  attract, 
from  those  coming  in  contact  with  them,  the  par- 
asites that  the  want  of  bodily  ablution,  and  igno- 
rance of  a  former  age,  allowed  to  accumulate  till 
death  might  be  readily  attributed  to  them.  In  a 
civilized  country,  where  soap  and  water,  and  med- 
icines which  kill  these  vermin,  can  be  obtained, 
there  is  no  longer  reason  or  excuse  for  their  pres- 
ence, as  we  shall  next  see. 


20  ANOIAL   FARASITES 


CHAPTER    II. 

We  have  given  a  sketch  of  the  habits,  habitats, 
and  appearances  of  the  three  animal  parasites  of 
the  human  skin  which  live  upon  it,  of  the  family 
of  pediculi.  AVe  also  spoke  of  the  eftect  upon  the 
cutaneous  surface  of  their  seeking  nourishment  in 
the  skin,  the  result  of  the  intense  itching  caused 
thereby,  and  the  consequences  of  the  irritation 
from  the  person's  endeavors  to  allay  this.  In  this 
chapter  we  will  endeavor  to  explain  how  and  where 
these  insects  deposit  their  eggs,  in  w^hat  w^ay  they 
can  be  destroyed  as  well  as  the  animals  themselves, 
and  thus  enable  those  annoyed  and  chagrined  by 
their  presence  to  rid  themselves  of  them  and  their 
effects. 

The  head-louse  and  the  crab-louse  lay  their  eggs 
on  the  hairs,  to  which  they  are  very  firmly  ftist- 
ened,  so  that  endeavoring  to  remove  them  will 
sometimes  even  pull  out  the  hair  itself.  They  arc 
called  nits,  and  are  struno:  alono-  on  the  hairs  like 
beads.     The  pediculus  of  the  head,  as  it  can  run 


OF   THE    HUMAJ^    SKIN. 


21 


about,  lays  its  eggs  more  scattered  on  the  liair 
than  the  pediculiis  pubis,  which  can  only  move  by 
grasping  the  hair  with  its  crab-like  claws,  and  thus 
pull  itself  from  one  to  another ;  hence  it  lays  its 
eggs  close  down  to  the  skin  on  the  hair,  and  where 
there  are  many  these  are  strung  close  to  each 
other,  consequently  often  overlooked,  even  when 
somewhat  carefully  sought  for.  The  eggs  of  these 
two  insects  are  very  much  alike,  and  attached  to 
the  hair  in  the  same  method,  so  that  a  single  de- 
scription will  answer  for  both.  A  proper  knowl- 
edge of  them  is  so  essential  to  understanding  the 
methods  of  destroying  them,  that  we  shall  give  a 
somewhat  minute  description  in  explanation  of  the 
figures  here  given.  The  eggs,  as  seen,  are  pear- 
shaped.  The  posterior  end  is  pointed,  the  ante- 
rior truncate,  and  furnished  with  a  flattened  round 

Fig.  1. 


22 


ANIIVIAL   PARASITES 


cover.  Fig.  1  represents  the  ordinary  appearance 
of  the  egg  when  seen  with  a  magnifying  power  of 
about  eighty  diameters.  "\Ye  here  see  how  the 
Qgg  is  fastened  to  the  hair,  and  why  they  stick  so 
firmly,  being  cemented  as  it  were  with  a  strongly 

Fig.  2. 


glutinous  substance.  Fig.  2  shows  the  egg  when 
rendered  transparent  in  the  glycerine,  and  exam- 
ined with  a  magnifying  power  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty  under  the  microscope.  The  broad  end  of 
the  egg  has  a  lip,  to  which  is  attached  a  conical 
lid,  studded  with  little  nodular  processes.  This 
lid  fa}ls  off  when  the  animal  is  ready  to  come  out 
of  the  shell.    We  see  such  a  one  at  the  side  of  the 


OF   THE    HUIHAN   SKIN.  23 

hair  which  has  come  off  from  the  egg  iu  which  the 
insect  is  curled  up.  In  the  other  egg  on  the  hair 
the  pediculus  is  seen  in  the  process  of  develop- 
ment. We  now  know  what  a  nit  is,  and  how  the 
insect  escapes  from  this  egg.  The  shell  is  quite 
hard,  even  with  difficulty  broken  between  the  fin- 
ger-nails. It  entirely  escapes  long-continued  and 
hard  combing,  and  is  not  destroyed  by  ordinary 
washing  with  soap  and  water,  or  shampooing. 
This  is  a  point  people  generally  are  quite  ignorant 
of,  but  to  be  especially  remembered. 

The  other  kind  of  pediculus  which  lives  se- 
creted in  the  folds  and  seams  of  the  clothes,  lays 
its  eggs  there.  They  are  seen  as  minute,  round, 
yellowish-white  dots,  quite  different  from  the  eggs 
of  the  other  pediculi,  and  never  found  sticking 
to  the  hairs. 

All  these  insects  are  regarded  as  loathsome,  and 
yet  every  human  being,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest,  is  liable  to  become  infested  with  them,  for 
all  classes  of  the  community  come  in  greater  or 
less  contact  with  each  other ;  and  it  is  by  contact, 
or  by  clothing,  or  utensils,  that  the  animals  are 
passed  from  one  to  another.  We  cannot  easily 
avoid  them,  but  we  can  always  readily  get  rid  of 


24  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

them  and  their  effect  on  the  skin,  provided  they 
have  not  continued  their  ravages  too  long,  for 
their  careful  treatment  by  those  experienced  in 
cutaneous  diseases  is  sometimes  requisite  to  relieve 
the  patient  of  their  trouble.  We  mean  that  se- 
vere and  persistent  iuflammation  of  the  skin  is 
often  caused  by  the  presence,  and  consequent  irri-, 
tation,  of  these  animals  we  have  described,  call-' 
ing  for  the  best  efforts  of  those  who  have  made 
diseases  of  the  skin  a  special  study,  in  order  to 
subdue  it. 

The  treatment  oiphthiriasis^  or  the  presence  of 
lice,  is  quite  simple,  if  three  things  are  borne  in 
mind,  namely  :  that  we  must  kill  the  live  insects, 
destroy  the  eggs,  and  care  for  the  condition  of  the 
skin  left  afterwards.  Now  there  are  a  number  of  sub- 
stances of  the  mineral  and  vegetable  world,  which 
are  quite  deadly  to  these  animals  when  brought  iu 
contact  with  them,  such  as  sulphur,  mercury,  seeds 
of  stavesacre,  of  sabadilla;  the  root  of  pyrethrum 
or  pellitory,  many  of  the  essential  oils,  and  alco- 
hol. All  the  patent  medicines  and  other  adver-j-, 
tised  nostrums  warranted  to  destroy  these  vermim 
contain  some  of  these  substances ;    but  as  many 


OF   THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  25 

of  such  medicines  are  irritating  to  the  skin,  their 
indiscriminate  use  is  likely  to  do  much  harm. 

Sulphur  can  be  used  as  vapor  baths  or  fumiga- 
tions, but  equally  as  well  in  the  common  sulphur 
ointment  of  the  Pharmacopoeia.  Its  smell  pre- 
vents its  use  by  those  who  object  to  it,  and  other 
things  do  equally  well.  Mercury  can  be  used  as 
the  common  mercurial  ointment,  or  two  or  three 
grains  of  the  bichloride  of  mercury  can  be  dis- 
solved in  an  ounce  of  water,  and  a  few  drops  of 
alcohol  added,  to  assist  solution.  When  applied 
to  the  skin  in  this  way  the  danger  of  salivation 
amounts  to  nothing.  Seeds  of  stavesacre  can  be 
used  as  ointment,  one  part  to  four  of  lard,  or  an 
infusion  of  them  in  vinegar.  Sabadilla  seeds  can 
be  used  as  a  powder  when  ground  up,  or  as  an 
ointment,  one  part  to  eight  of  lard.  A  few  drops 
of  the  essential  oils,  as  oil  of  cinnamon  or  rose- 
mary added  to  these  ointments,  disguise  or  im- 
prove the  odor.  The  root  of  the  pyre  thrum  or 
pellitory  is  generally  used  in  powder.  Some  of 
the  strong  essential  oils  are  also  serviceable. 

We  thus  see  that  there  are  a  variety  of  sub- 
stances we  can  employ,  some  one  of  which  is 
always  within  every  one's  reach.     To  get  rid  of 


26  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

these  insects  on  the  head,  we  must  remember  that 
although  the  fine  tooth-comb,  steadily  used,  will, 
when  the  hairs  are  not  matted  and  there  is  no  se- 
cretion, remove  all  the  live  animals,  yet  it  will  not 
destroy  the  nits  or  eggs,  or  break  them  away  from 
their  attachment  to  the  hairs.  These  eggs  can 
only  be  broken  down  by  repeated  washing  ivith 
alcohol  or  weah  vinegar,  or  the  strongest  soft  soap, 
such  as  the  German  Schmierseife,  or  smearing 
soap.  The  cure  is  not  complete  till  the  hairs  are 
free  from  them.  When  there  is  no  objection,  as 
in  children,  it  is  better  to  cut  the  hair  short,  as 
thereby  we  get  rid  of  large  numbers  of  nits,  and 
can  bring  whatever  we  use  in  more  immediate 
contact  with  the  animals  we  desire  to  destroy. 
When  the  hair  is  matted  together  b}'  secretions, 
and  the  skin  inflamed,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
cut  the  hair  short,  and  use  steady  cleansing  with 
soap  and  warm  water,  otherwise  the  animals  con- 
tinue to  propagate  under  the  products  of  the 
inflammation,  and  multiply  innumerably. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  sacrifice  the  hair  in  women. 
Combing,  Avashing,  and  the  application  of  some 
of  the  above  remedies  are  quite  efi*ectual.  When 
there  is  severe  inflammation  and  much  eruption  on 


OF    THE    HUMAN    SKIN.  27 

the  head,  especially  of  children,  it  will  be  safer  to 
consult  some  physician  who  pays  especial  attention 
to  diseases  of  the  skin ;  remember,  however,  to 
avoid  all  who  advertise  in  any  form  whatever,  by 
newspapers,  handbills,  pamphlets  or  almanacs, 
and  equally  avoid  patent  medicines  and  quack 
nostrums.  These,  unfortunately,  only  too  often 
succeed  in  fleecing  the  ignorant  and  credulous, 
because  the  general  practitioner  disregards  or 
treats  but  lightly  what  in  reality  needs  knowledge, 
thought  and  care. 

We  have  explained  that  the  pediculus  pubis,  or 
crab-louse,  lived  on  all  the  haired  portions  of  the 
body  except  the  scalp,  which  territory  he  always 
leaves  intact  for  his  cousin  the  pediculus  capitis. 
This  insect,  it  must  again  be  remembered,  cannot 
run  about,  but  holds  on  to  the  hair  close  to  the 
skin.  Coml)in2:  and  rubbinof  will  not  dislods^e  it, 
but  it  is  readily,  like  the  pediculus  capitis,  killed 
by  some  of  the  substances  mentioned.  A  powder 
called  Capuchin  powder  is  used  in  Europe,  to  de- 
stroy both  these  species  of  vermin.  It  is  composed 
of  equal  parts  of  seeds  of  stavesacre,  cocculus  and 
sabadilla.  To  efiect  a  cure,  all  parts  of  the  body 
infested,    or   likely  to    be,   must    be    thoroughly 


28  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

\ 

rubbed.  Some  of  the  ointments,  though  not  so 
cleanly  to  apply,  are  more  effectual  than  the  pow- 
ders in  destroying  this  insect ;  and  washing  them 
off  with  strong  soap,  and  hard  rubbing,  breaks 
down  the  egg-shells,  and  prevents  the  young  from 
hatching:.  Thorousjhness  and  care  are  the  secret 
of  success.  Any  portion  of  the  haired  portion  of 
the  body  neglected,  may  be  the  seat  of  continued 
contagion.  The  eyelashes  even  do  not  escape, 
and  the  figures  we  have  given  are  drawn 
from  the  eggs  of  the  pediculus  pubis,  found  on 
the  lashes.  ^Ye  can  understand  now  how  it  is 
that  some  tribes  of  men  whose  habits  are  partic- 
ularly uncleanly,  still  manage  to  be  comparatively 
free  of  these  vermin.  It  is  because  they  use 
strong-smelling  fats  and  ointments  for  smearing 
the  surftice  of  the  body,  and  rubbing  into  the  hair 
in  their  manner  of  dressing  it.  Perhaps  the  ne- 
cessity of  some  defence  for  the  bod}',  so  much 
exposed  in  hot  climates  from  the  attacks  of  in- 
sects, originated  the  use  of  many  ointments  among 
savage  tribes,  especially  those  living  in  the  tropics. 
In  speaking  of  the  pediculus  vestimenti,  or 
clothes-louse,  we  said,  when  the  person  infested 
had   removed   his  clothes,   he   had  removed   the 


OF   THE    HUMAN   SKIN.  29 

insects,  except  any  that  might  be  then  biting  the 
skin:  so  that  to  get  rid  of  these  vermin,  clean 
clothes  and  a  thorough  ablution  is  all  that  is  nec- 
essary. After  they  have  lived  and  multiplied  on 
the  individual  indefinitely,  as  is  often  the  case 
amongst  the  lowest  classes  in  civilized  countries, 
and  among  dirty  semi-barbarous  people  who  live 
in  climates  requiring  constant  clothing,  then  the 
products  of  the  inflammation  of  the  skin  may  con- 
ceal some  of  these  insects  and  their  eggs,  render- 
ing an  application  to  the  skin  of  one  of  the 
remedies  above  mentioned  necessarj^.  Boiling 
clothes  that  can  be  washed,  effectually  destroys 
both  eggs  and  insects.  A  heat  of  150  degrees 
Fahrenheit  applied  to  clothes  that  would  be  spoiled 
by  boiling,  will  also  destroy  all  the  animals  and 
their  eggs  concealed  in  the  folds  and  seams.  In 
some  parts  of  the  world  the  common  people  bury 
infested  clothing  in  hay  for  several  weeks  ;  in  this 
way  the  insects  are  killed,  and  the  eggs  prevented 
hatching:.  Strewinsr  clothinof  with  some  of  the 
powders  we  have  mentioned  above,  also  suffices  to 
disinfect  it,  without  hurting  the  cloth  in  any 
way.     But  the  treatment  of  the  clothing,  like  the 


k 


30  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

treatment  of  the  skin,  must  be  thoroughly  attended 
to. 

Of  the  million  and  a  half  of  men  who  composed 
the  Noi-thern  and  Southern  armies  during  the  re- 
bellion, we  doubt  if  many  score  escaped  being  in- 
fested by  these  parasites.  We  should  not  like  to 
say  what  proportion  of  the  thousands  of  recruits 
who  passed  through  our  examination,  had  to  be 
made  clean  before  becoming  soldiers.  We  have 
known  of  officers  being  furloughed  from  the  field 
to  return  home,  and  once  more  get  free  of  their 
travelling  companions  in  the  shape  of  vermin. 
Had  every  army  surgeon,  Xorth  and  South,  been 
quite  familiar  with  the  habits  and  habitats  of 
these  insects,  much  suffering  might  have  been 
saved.  Those  who  did  understand  the  proper 
and  efficient  methods  of*  prevention  and  treat- 
ment, often  labored  strenuously  for  the  personal 
cleanliness  of  their  command.  Of  course  all  ef- 
fort failed  when  the  accidents  or  necessities  of 
war  prevented  for  weeks,  or  months,  perhaps, 
change  of  clothing,  requisite  ablutions,  and  the 
wasning  of  under-garments.  The  horrors  of  the 
Southern  prisons  were  rendered  still  worse  by 
the  loathsome  presence  of  vermin,  which  the  in- 


OF   THE   HIBIAN    SKIN.  31 

mates  fruitlessly  got  rid  of,  as  contagion  soon 
caused  them  to  become  as  infested  as  before. 
There  was,  however,  great  ignorance  as  well  as 
great  neglect.  Even  in  times  of  peace,  the  sur- 
gical staff  of  our  prisons,  institutions  of  correc- 
tion, school-ships,  asylums,  children's  homes, 
etc.,  kuow  only  too  well  how  hard  it  is  to  enforce 
a  personal  cleanliness,  which  shall  prevent  the 
presence  of  contagious  vermin.  With  great  ar- 
mies in  the  field  it  is  impossible ;  but  not  neces- 
sary with  these  in  times  of  peace. 

We  do  not  propose  to  speak  here  of  the  vari- 
ous insects  which  attack  man  by  stinging,  or 
those  which  draw  blood  from  the  skin  for  food,  as 
they  cannot  be  strictly  called  parasites.  We 
mean  of  the  former  class,  scorpions,  ants,  spiders, 
etc.,  and  of  the  latter  class,  bed-bugs,  fleas,  mos- 
quitoes, gnats,  many  species  of  flies,  etc. 

We  w^ill,  therefore,  now  pass  to  the  considera- 
tion of  some  of  the  animal  parasites  which  live 
in  the  skin,  or  which  may,  under  certain  circum- 
stances, deposit  their  eggs  there.  The  •  great 
blue-bottle  fly,  miisca  vomitoria,  lays  its  eggs  in 
the  orifices  of  the  human  body,  or  in  wounds  and 
ulcers.     The  removal  of  their  larvae  is  a  matter 


^2  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

of  care  and  importance.  So  also  with  the  com- 
mon flesh-fly,  musca  carnaria.  They  thus  add 
greatly  to  the  misery  of  certain  endemic  diseases, 
as  the  aflections  of  the  eye  in  Egypt.  The  house- 
fly may  also  deposit  its  eggs,  and  its  larvae  be 
found  in  wounds,  and  the  orifices  of  the  body. 
The  eggs  and  larvae  of  the  bot-flies  may  live  on 
the  skin,  and  there  form  boils.  In  South  Amer- 
ica this  parasite  is  reported  as  by  no  means  rare 
upon  man.  Von  Humboldt  called  it  cestnis  hu- 
maniis.  It  is  not  yet,  however,  settled  whether 
this  is  difierent  from  the  bot  of  the  horse,  sheep, 
ox,  stag,  and  other  bot-flies.  Fluctuation  will  be 
sought  for  in  vain  in  the  tumors  produced  by 
them,  but  an  orifice  will  be  found  in  the  swelling, 
from  which  a  little  moisture  constantly  oozes,  and 
through  which  the  hinder  part  of  the  cestrus  is  . 
kept  in  communication  with  the  air.  The  prog- 
nosis is  favorable,  and  immediate  cure  is  only  pos- 
sible by  incision,  and  the  removal  of  the  cestrus. 

The  Medina-worm,  or  Guinea  hair-worm , /?/a- 
7'ia  onedinencis,  is  an  inhabitant  of  another  por- 
tion of  the  world,  and  need  not,  therefore,  be  dis- 
cussed here.  On  the  other  hand,  we  must  take 
some  notice  of  the  sand-fiea,  pulex  penetrans,  since 


OF  THE   HUMAN  SKTNT.  33 

it  occurs  in  South  America,  and  where  our  coun- 
trymen may  more  often  come  in  contact  with  it. 
It  is  smaller  than  the  common  flea,  and  has  a  pro- 
boscis as  long  as  the  body.  The  male  insect  does 
not  penetrate  the  skin.  This  is  done  by  the  fe- 
male, which  swells  up  extraordinarily  after  it  has 
burrowed  under  the  skin  of  men  and  animals. 
Yon  Humboldt  thought  it  attacked  only  Euro- 
peans, and  not  the  aborigines.  It  is  described  as 
an  animal  so  small  that  it  can  only  be  seen  by 
sharp  eyes,  with  a  good  light,  for  which  reason 
the  seeking  for  the  flea,  after  its  immigration,  is 
generally  left  to  children.  It  perforates  the  skin 
down  to  the  flesh,  and,  concealed  in  its  little 
canal,  swells  up  into  a  white,  globular  vesicle, 
which,  in  a  few  days,  may  become  as  large  as  a 
pea,  the  pain  constantly  increasing ;  this  is  the 
abdomen  of  the  female  filled  w4th  eggs,  or,  more 
correctly,  with  larvse.  Neglect  of  the  disorder, 
or  careless  rupture  of  the  vesicle,  that  is,  the  ab- 
domen, by  which  the  young  are  scattered  in  the 
wound,  where  they  then  mine  fresh  passages, 
leads  to  bad  sores,  to  inflammation  of  the  glands 
of  the  groin,  to  mortification,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, to  amputation  or  mutilation  of  the  limbs, 


34  ANBLiL   PARASITES 

or  even  to  death.  The  toes  are  especially  at- 
tacked by  the  flea,  although  other  parts  of  the 
body  are  also  visited.  Persons  who  are  staying 
in  the  places  where  the  flea  is  common,  must  have 
their  feet  examined  every  two  or  three  days. 
When  the  animal  has  once  made  an  entrance,  the 
orifice  of  the  canal,  which  is  marked  by  a  red 
point,  may  be  sought,  the  passage  widened  by  a 
needle,  and  the  flea  drawn  out,  but  without  tear- 
ing it.  With  fresh  punctures  it  is  best  to  wait  a 
day,  until  the  occurrence  of  the  white  vesicle, 
that  is  to  say,  the  swelling  of  the  abdomen  with 
the  brood,  allows  the  animal  to  be  more  readily 
detected.  The  cavity  remaining  after  extraction, 
is  treated  like  a  simple  wound.  In  Brazil  they 
fill  it  with  oil,  snufi",  or  ashes. 

There  are  two  animals  remaining  for  us  to  de- 
scribe, inhabitants  of  the  human'  skin.  One  is 
the  acarus  scabiei,  or  sar copies  hominis^  the  itch 
insect,  which  causes  no  end  of  trouble  in  and  on 
the  skin.  The  other,  and  perfectly  harmless  para- 
site, of  man's  cutaneous  envelope,  is  the  acarus 
folliculorum,  or  pimple  mite,  of  which  J^ir/.  3  is 
a  representation.  This  is  a  very  enlarged  view 
of  the  animal,  since  its  true  length  is  from  one- 


OF   THE    HU3IAN   SKIN. 


35 


hiuiclredth  to  one-fiftieth  of  an  inch  in  length. 
Our  figure  here  saves  us  any  minute  description 
of  this  parasitic  animal.  The  true  pimple  mite 
was  found  by  Henle  and  Gustav  Sii|ion,  in  1842, 
almost  simultaneously,  and  independently  of  each 

Fig.  3. 


other.  They  are  found  generally  and  most  abun- 
dantly in  the  glands  of  the  skin  which  secrete  the 
grease,  either  opening  on  the  surface,  or  into  a 
follicle,  from  which  the  hair  springs.  They  are 
of  very  frequent  occurrence,  it  even  being  as- 
serted that  no  one  is  free  from  them,  and  are  dis- 
covered in  the  sebaceous  glands  of  the  face,  chin, 
nose,  and  forehead,  by  pressing  out  the  contents 
of  the  gland,  and  adding  a  drop  of  colored  oil  to 
it  on  the  glass  slide  of  the  microscope.     They 


36  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

sometimes  occur  singly ;  sometimes  several,  ten 
to  twenty,  are  found  in  the  contents  of  one  folli- 
cle.    When  in  large  numbers,  their  presence  may 
possibly  caus^  an  acne-like  eruption.     We  have 
often   smiled   at  the    success  of  the  advertising 
quacks,  who  pretend  to  treat  diseases  of  the  skin, 
in  duping  their  victims,  and  in  fact  the  public  in 
general,    in    reference  to  this   harmless   animal. 
When  a  sebaceous  follicle  becomes,  on  the  face 
or  nose  for  instance,  distended  by  its  natural  con-  '■ 
tents,  the  oriffce  of  the  follicle  is  filled   with  a  ' 
soft,  cheese-like  substance,  to  which  dirt  and  dust  '., 
adheres,   presenting   the    appearance   of   a   little  ; 
black  dot  on  the  skin,  over  the  centre  of  a  whit-  ! 
ish minute  protuberance.     Pressing  with  the  nails 
each  side  of  this,  and  we  can  force  out  a  small 
cylinder  of  greasy  substance,  the  black  dot  being 
one  end  of  it.     Now  from  this  resembling  a  mag- 
got with  a  black  head,  it  is  generally  sujDposed  to 
be  one ;  and  the  quack  tells  his  clients  that  it  is  a 
worm  of  the  skin,  supporting  his  assertion  by  the 
statement  that  worms  live  in  the  skin.     What  the 
true  pimple  mites  are,  and  their  comparative  size, 
you,   however,   now  know ;    and,  shall  we    say, 
should  not  be  again  duped . 


OF   THE    HUMAN   SKIN, 


37 


CHAPTER    III. 

Our  chapter  is  headed  by  a  magnified  drawing 
of  the  little  animal  we  are  to  describe.  It  is 
about  one-sixtieth  to  one-seventieth  of  an  inch  in 
length,  just  visible  to  the  naked  eye.     By  living 


Fig.  4:.  iTCH-iCiTE.  — Male. 

in  the  skin  of  man  it  produces  the  disease  known 
as  itch.  To  understand  how  to  treat  this  trouble- 
some afiection  intelligibly,  we  must  first  study  the 
natural  history  of  the  animal,  its  habits  and  hab- 


I 


38  ANIMAL    PARASITES 

itats.  Before  doing  this,  however,  it  will  be  in- 
teresting and  instrnctive  to  glance  at  the  general 
history  of  this  little  creature,  called  in  English  the 
itch-mite,  and  in  Latin,  sarco^tes  hominis,  or 
acarus  scabiei. 

There  is  strong  evidence  in  support  of  the  idea 
that  some  of  the  diseases  spoken  of  in  the  Bible 
as  prevalent  among  the  Jews  were,  in  reality,  due 
to  the  ravages  of  the  itch-mite  in  the  skin. 
Probably,  when  mankind  began  to  people  the 
world,  these  insects  began  to  people  them^  de- 
rived, by  contagion,  from  the  lower  animals 
previously  in  existence.  From  a  passage  in  Aris- 
totle's "History  of  Animals,"  it  has  been  supposed 
that  the  insect  was  known  to  him  as  the  cause  of 
itch.  The  old  Arabian  physicians,  in  their  writ- 
ings, mention  it  cjuite  plainly, —  Avenzoar,  for 
instance ;  but  apparently  we  must  come  down  to 
the  twelfth  century  for  indisputable  reference  to 
the  itch-mite,  in  a  work  entitled  ^^  Physica" 
written,  curiously  enough,  by  Saint  Hildegard, 
the  Lady  Superior  of  the  Convent  on  the  Rupert>- 
Bcrg,  near  Bingcn.  From  that  time  downwards, 
the  insect  has  been  seen  and  spoken  of  by  the 
medical  writers  of  the  times,  as  Guv  de  Chauliac, 


r 


OF   THE    HUMAN    SKIN.  39 


Gralap,  Benedictus,  Paracelsus,  Ambrose  Pare, 
Scaliger,  Fallopius,  Joubertus,  Vidius,  Schenck, 
HaffeurefFer,  Riolanus,  Mouffet,  and  many  others. 
These  names  carry  us  down  to  the  early  part  of 
the' seventeenth  century,  to  Jansen's  discovery  of 
the  microscope,  in  1619.  The  knowledge  of  the 
use  of  the  then  primitive  instrument  soon  spread, 
and  the  itch-mite  was  studied  by  it,  the  first 
rou2^h  drawino:  of  the  animal  beino-  o-iven  l^y 
Hauptmann.  During  this  (the  sevententh)  cen- 
tury, the  various  writers  on  medical  topics  show 
more  or  less  knowledge  of  this  mite.  We  will 
not,  however,  tire  our  readers  by  quoting  their 
names.  Some  of  them  mention  the  custom, 
which  has  been  a  common  practice  from  that  day 
to  this,  of  extracting  the  itch-mite  from  the  skin 
b}^  means  of  a  needle.  Although,  by  this  time, 
the  mite  had  been  depicted,  and  its  association 
Vv'ith  the  itch  disease  recognized,  jet  it  was  not 
till  1687  that  Dr.  Bonomo,  of  Leghorn,  and  Ces- 
toni,  an  apothecary,  studied  our  litt]^  friend  in 
what  we  should  now  call  a  common-sense  way, 
and  thoroughly  exploded  the  old  ideas,  handed 
down  from  one  generation  to  another,  that  the 
itch-disease  was  due  to  thiclcened  bile,  drying  of 


40  ANniAL   PAEASITES 

tJie  blood,  irritating  salts,  mdancliolic  juices,  and 
specitil  fermentation, — the  presence  of  the  itch- 
mite,  when  admitted,  being  accounted  for  hy 
equivocal  generation.  These  observers  saw  and 
described  the  iiisects  quite  perfectly,  found  their 
eggs,  and  discovered  the  females  laying  them,  and 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  itch-disease,  or 
scabies,  arose  solely  from  the  presence  of  an  ani- 
mal which  is  incessantly  biting  the  skin,  and 
thereby  causing  the  patient  to  allay  the  itching  hy 
scratching.  They  also  explained  the  contagious 
character  of  the  affection  by  the  transference  of 
the  insects  from  one  individual  to  another.  Be- 
cause these  discoveries  were  true,  they  were 
denied  and  combated  by  the  medical  writers  of 
those  days ;  yet  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  passed  before  any  better  natural  history  of 
the  mite  appeared.  King  George  II. 's  physician, 
Dr.  Eichard  Mead,  of  London,  reported  Bonomo 
and  Cestoni's  observations  to  the  Royal  Society, 
and  published  them  in  Xo.  283  of  the  "Philosoph- 
ical Transactions." 

We  have  given  this  little  historical  sketch  to 
show  how  old  the  disease  is,  and  how  old  a 
knowledge  of  its  cause  is  also.     Notwithstanding, 


OF  THE   HUJUAN   SKIN.  41 

from  that  time  to  this  (1872)  there  has  not  failed 
to  exist  medical  men  or  naturalists  who  deny  the 
connection  between  the  disease  called  itch  and  the 
itch-mite.  It  is  with  medicine  a,s  everything  else 
in  the  world  —  denial  of  truth  excites  notoriety, 
so  desired  by  the  many. 

In  view  of  what  we  have  above  said,  it  seems 
impossible  to  conceive  that  a  correct  knowledge 
of  the  itch-mite  should  be,  since  Bonomo's  time, 
repeatedly  lost  in  some  of  the  great  centres  of 
medical  teaching,  to  be  again  regained.  In  1812, 
a  prize  was  ofiered  in  Paris  for  the  discovery  of 
the  little  inject ;  and  a  certain  apothecary,  named 
Gales,  gained  it,  by  exhibiting  before  a  medical 
commission  the  cheese-mite.  Consequently  those 
v/ho  searched  patients  with  itch  did  not  find  this 
animal,  and  a  prize  was  once  more  offered ;  and 
Raspail  showed  the  cheese-mite  again,  and,  when 
the  judges  were  satisfied,  proved  it  was  such,  and 
exposed  Gales*  duplicity.  The  cause  of  the.  itch- 
mite  had  henceforward  its  adherents  and  oppo- 
sers  ;  whilst,  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  the 
lowest  classes  understood  it,  and  the  fiiethods  of 
its  destruction;  for  instance,  the  old  women  in 
Corsica,    who    picked    them    out   with    needles. 


42  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

Reuucci,  a  native  of  the  island,  probably  familiar 
with  these  old  ladies'  occupation,  finally,  in  1834, 
taught  the  Parisian  medical  world  how  to  find  the 
itch-mite ;  and,  from  that  time  to  this,  the  insect 
and  its  ravages  have  been  more  thoroughly  and 
scientifically  studied,  and  the  literature  of  the 
subject  grown  up  into  quite  a  dermatological 
library.  In  1846,  Dr.  C.  Eichstedt,  of  Greifs- 
wald,  and  Prof.  Kramer,  of  Kiel,  independently 
discovered  the  male  mite.  IVe  who,  nowadays, 
have  treated  the  itch-disease,  and  studied  the 
natural  history  of  the  itch-mite,  naturally  feel  as 
if  we  knew  pretty  much  all  about  it;  yet,  so  late 
as  1844,  Prof.  Hebra,  of  Vienna,  gave  the  Ger- 
man physicians  a  knowledge  of  a  new  and  terrible 
phase  of  this  insect's  habits  and  habitats,  in  what 
is  known  as  the  Norwegian  scabies,  the  first 
recorded  case  having  occurred  in  that  country. 
And  so  it  probably  will  always  be  in  the  ever- 
advancing  science  of  medicine,  the  present  genera- 
tion smilino^  at  the  errors  and  i2:norance  of  the 
preceding  one.  But  when  a  truth,  like  the  one 
mentioned^  of  Hebra's,  is  discovered,  then  others 
are  rapidly  and  constantly  being  found  to  confirm 


OF   THE    HUMAN    SKIN.  43 

it.     Other  cases  were  soon  reported  by  observers 
in  Germany. 

We  suppose,  by  this  time,  onr  readers  Avant  to 
know  a  little  more  about  the  insect  itself,  anil  per- 
haps have  had  hardly  patience  to  read  down  so  far 
as  to  learn  about  the  stran<2:e-lookin5:  animal  headins^ 
our  article.  At  present  we  include  the  itch-mite 
in  the  special  class  of  acarina,  and  if  our  readers 
want  to  know  more  about  the  other  members  of 
this  class,  as  the  sugar-mite,  the  cheese-mite,  etc., 
we  would  refer  them  to  an  article  in  the  September 
number  of  the  "American  Naturalist,"  for  1869, 
by  our  friend  A.  S.  Packard,  Jr.,  Avho  gives  nu- 
merous and  beautiful  illustrations,  accompanied  by 
pleasantly  told  descriptions.  What  we  here  say  will 
fill  up  this  chapter  for  the  acarics  scabiei,  or  sar- 
cojptes  liomini.,  or  itch-mite.  The  animal  is  tortoise- 
shaped.  The  head  distinct  from  the  trunk,  with 
four  pair  of  jaws.  Eight  legs,  four  in  front  and 
four  behind.  The  larva  has  but  six  legs.  Beside 
the  leo^s  are  lono:  bristles.  The  male  differs  from 
the  female  in  appearance,  as  to  the  bell-shaped 
suckers  on  the  ends  of  the  legs,  and  also  is  not  so 
large.  This  insect  has,  besides  man,  been  found 
in  the  skin  of  the  horse,  lion,  llama,  ape,  Neapol- 


44  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

itan  and  Egyptian  sheep,  and  the  ferret.  It  has 
been  thought,  also,  that  the  mites  found  in  many 
other  animals  are  the  same  as  man's  irritating  com- 
panion, their  growth  being  favored  or  retarded  by 
their  place  of  development,  thus  accounting  for 
the  apparent  difierences  in  shape  and  size.  The 
itch-mite  lives  in  the  skin,  in  little  passages  dug 
by  itself,  or,  sometimes,  just  beneath  the  epidermis 
or  scarf-skin.  These  burrows  the  animal  makes 
extend  into  the  deeper  layers  of  the  epidermi.^, 
down  to  and  into  the  true  skin,  or  rete  mucosun}, 
as  it  is  called.  The  acariis  moults  three  times, 
not,  how^ever,  specially  changing  in  form.  The 
eggs  are  oval  in  shape,  quite  large  for  the  size  of 
the  animal,  and  may  be  laid  by  the  female  to  tlie 
number  of  fifty.  AYe  give  here  three  drawings, 
to  show  how  the  animal  gets  into  the  skin  to  form 
the  burrows,  now  called  "  acarian  furrows"  by 
dermatologists. 

In  Fig,  5  the  mite  has  got  down  beneath  the 
epidermis.  In  Fig,  6  it  has  commenced  digging 
the  burrow  longitudinally,  and  the  place  (/")  where 
it  was  in  Fig.  5  has,  by  the  gradual  growth  of  the 
cells,  come  up  nearer  to  the  surface  of  the  skin. 
In  Fig,  7,  the  point  (/)  has  thus  come  u^  to  the 


OF   THE   HUMAN   SKIN. 


45 


surface,  whilst  the  mite  has  gone  along  further 
with  its  burrow.  An  animal,  when  it  gets  on  to 
the  skin,  crawls  till  it  finds  a  suitable  soft  place, 
when  it  tips  up  on  its  fore-legs,  and  commences 
to  work  its  way  in.  The  female,  as  it  progresses, 
lays  its  eggs  behind  her  in  the  burrow,  and  when 


c 

\/^^/\yv\/VAA/\Ay\/\/\y< 

I'ir/.  5. 


Fig.  6. 


Fig.  7. 

exhausted,  dies.  These  eggs  will  be  seen,  in  a 
regular  row  behind  the  female,  in  the  burrow, 
under  the  microscope  with  one  himdred  multiply- 
ing power.  It  is  not  settled  how  long  it  takes 
the  eggs  to  hatch  —  from  seventy  hours  to  six  or 


46  ANIMAL    PARASITES 

seven  days.  Probably  one  egg  is  laid  every  day.  I 
Now,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  skin  is  con- 
stantly wearing  off,  and  as  constantly  renewed  by 
new  growth  from  beneath ;  hence,  as  will  be  seen 
by  these  illustrations,  the  eggs  hatching  in  the 
furrow  will  come  to  the  surface  in  time  for  the 
animal  to  escape  from  its  shell  when  fully  formed. 
These  canals  which  the  female  acari  burrow,  have 
generally  a  serpentine  form,  and  are  from  a 
twelfth  to  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  length.  They 
show  on  the  surffice  of  the  skin  a  whitish  dotted 
appearance,  the  dots  corresponding  to  the  eggs  — 
the  female,  as  seen  in  the  cuts,  being  at  the  bJuid 
end  of  the  burrow.  Ignorance  or  forgetfulness  of 
this  fact  has  been  the  cause  of  the  itch-mite  escap- 
ing detection.  There  v/ill  l^e  a  little  pimple  or 
vesicle  on  the  skin  over  where  the  mite  went  in ; 
and,  as  we  see  from  these  figures,  the  animal  is 
not  there,  but  off  at  some  distance  deeper  in  the 
skin  ;  hence,  if  we  open  the  little  vesicle,  or  cut  it 
out,  the  insect  escapes  us.  The  old  women  in 
Corsica,  and  other  parts  of  the  world,  knew  bet- 
ter, and  with  a  needle  dug  out  the  acarus  from  the 
end  of  the  burrow.  A  surer  way  of  obtaining  it, 
and  the  whole  burrow,  is  to  clip  this  off  with  a 


OF   THE    HUMAN   SKIN.  47 

fine  pair  of  curved  scissors,  commencing  at  the 
blind  end,  Avhere  the  mite  lies  buried.  Of  course 
a  little  experience  is  required  to  do  this  success- 
fully. Then,  if  we  place  this  little  lamina  of 
epidermis  on  the  microscope-slide,  and  a  covering- 
glass  over  it,  but  without  fluid,  we  shall  most 
likely  find  the  female  acarus  and  the  eggs  she  has 
laid  behind  her.  A  magnifying  power  of  sixty  to 
one  hundred  times  is  quite  sufficient. 

After  this  animal  had  been  proved  to  be  the 
sole  cause  of  the  disease  called  itch,  medical  men 
thought  it  was  always  necessary  to  find  the  mite, 
to  be  sure  that  their  patient  had  the  itch.  From 
the  history  above  given,  and  explanations  just 
made,  we  can  see  how  natural  it  was  that  they 
should  so  often  fail  in  this,  and  therefore  conclude 
that  their  patient  was  not  the  victim  of  this  ani- 
mal parasite  ;  consequently  he  w\as  not  properly 
treated,  and  did  not  get  well  —  he  continued  to  itch. 
Hence,  to  account  for  this,  and  cover  up  ignorance, 
was  invented  the  "Jackson  Itch,"  the  "Seven- 
years'  Itch,"  and,  lately,  the  "Army  Itch."  We 
conclude  the  first  did  not  derive  its  name  from 
our  former  President,  but  was  only  popular  dur- 
ing his  reign.    The  second  was  ingenious  ;  for  if  a 


48  AXIMAL   PARASITES 

patieDt  was  told  he  had  tho  "'  Seven-years'  Itch," 
he  naturally  concluded  that  he  could  not  get  rid 
of  it  in  less  than  that  number  of  years,  which  gave 
time  for  treatment.  As  time  goes  on,  soap  and 
water,  and  personal  cleanliness,  become  more 
popular,  hence  the  itch-mite  has  become  less  and 
less  common.  In  the  old  New  England  days  it 
was  the  pest  of  the  village-school,  the  town  poor- 
house,  and  the  city  jail.  During  the  rebellion, 
the  great  armies,  on  the  march  and  in  the  field, 
of  course  had  no  opportunities  for  personal  clean- 
liness, so  as  to  prevent  the  contagion  of  the  itch- 
disease,  therefore  it  spread  with  great  rapidity  by 
contact,  and  the  effects  of  the  mite's  presence  in 
the  skin  would  also  be  severe.  The  various  arni}^ 
surgeons  had  not  been  accustomed  to  any  such 
cases ;  they  searched  in  vain  for  the  insect,  and, 
repeatedly  failing  to  discover  it,  finally  concluded 
there  must  be  an*itch-disease  not  due  to  the  itch- 
mite,  and  called  it  the  "  Army  Itch."  These  cases 
often  were  furloughed,  and,  in  the  cities  at  home, 
came  under  the  care  of  those  who,  from  special 
study  of  cutaneous  diseases,  were  more  familiar 
with  the  means  of  obtaining  the  parasite,  as  we 


OF   THE   HUMAN  SKIN.  49 

have  above  described,  when  search  for  it  always 
revealed  the  true  cause. 

This  mite,  in  burrowing  into  the  skin,  produces 
intense  itching,  and  sometimes  a  vesicular  erup- 
tion on  the  surface;  but  this  is  all.  The  intense 
itching,  however,  causes  those  infested  to  scratch 
themselves  incessantly,  night  and  day ;  and  they 
consequently  tear  and  lacerate  the  skin  in  every 
direction.  The  mite,  as  we  have  said,  needs  a 
delicate  part  of  the  skin  to  dig  into —  between  the 
fingers,  for  instance  —  and  here  the  peculiar  look- 
ing burrows  are  first  sought  for.  The  portion  of 
the  skin  of  the  whole  body  particularly  ravaged 
by  this  unpleasant  parasite  are  so  definite,  that 
those  familiar  with  cutaneous  diseases  can,  at  a 
glance,  say  whether  the  patient  has  the  itch.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  several  other  diseases 
of  the  skin  cause  as  bad  itching  as  the  itch-mite ; 
but  the  special  portions  of  the  general  integument 
are,  however,  so  marked  to  the  practised  eye,  that 
we  no  longer  feel  any  need  of  finding  a  mite  in 
its  burrow  to  establish  our  diagnosis  and  treat- 
ment. In  fact,  we  might  spend  a  long  time  in 
fruitless  hunt,  when  the  trouble  has  lasted  some 
time,  or  treatment  has  been  attempted. 

4 


50  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

We  seem,  perhaps,  very  precise  and  prosy  in 
all  this ;  but,  during  and  since  the  war,  so  much 
scabies  has  been  diffused  through  our  country, 
that  many  family  physicians  are  called  upon  to 
treat  what  they  have  never  before  seen,  and  their 
want  of  immediate  success  should  not  tell  aofainst 
them.  We  only  desire  the  community  and  phy- 
sicians to  understand  that  the  Jackson  Itch,  the 
Seven-years'  Itch,  and  the  Army  Itch,  all  are  due 
to  the  presence  in  the  skin  of  one  and  the  same 
animal,  namely,  the  acarus  scabiei,  or  sarcojptes 
hominis,  the  itch-mite  depicted  at  the  commence- 
ment of  this  article. 

How  now,  finally,  can  we  get  rid  of  our  minute, 
insinuating,  and  irritating  friends?  They  lie 
stored  away  beneath  the  hard  layer  of  the  scarf- 
skin ;  this,  therefore,  must  be  removed,  in  order 
to  expose  them;  then  something  fatal  to  them, 
but  not  hurtful  to  the  skin,  must  be  brought  in 
contact  with  them,  and  finally  the  excoriations  and 
eruptions  caused  by  the  constant  scratching  must 
be  properly  treated.  The  severity  of  these  latter 
symptoms  depend,  of  course,  on  the  length  of 
time  the  person  has  been  affected ;  that  is  to  say, 
upon  the  number  of  itch-mites  which  are  commit- 


OF   THE    HUMAN   SKIN.  51 

ting  ravages  upon  him,  and  partly  on  the  degree 
of  the   sensibility  of  the   skin.     As  long  as  the 
person  lives,  the  mite  will  flourish  on  him,  till  it  is 
destroyed  by  proper  methods.    In  the  illustrations 
marked  1,  2,  3,  the  mite,  as  is  seen,  is  quite  deep 
in   the  scarf-skin  ;    our  first  effort  towards  treat- 
ment must  therefore  be  to  soften  and  break  down 
or  rub  oft'  this  epidermis.     Every  one  is  familiar 
with  the  efiect  of  the  long-continued  application 
of  warm  water  and  soap  to  the  skin,  how"  it  swells 
up  the  scarf-skin,  softens  it,  and  renders  it  easily 
scraped  or  -I'ubbed  oft".     Therefore  a  person  with 
this  highlj^  unpleasant  trouble,  must  first    thor- 
oughly soak  himself  in  hot  water,  and  rub  all  parts 
of  the  body  which  are  the  abodes  of  the  mites 
with  the  strongest  soft  soap.     This  will  be  half 
an  hour's  Avork.     The  more  delicate  the  skin,  the 
shorter  time  required.     Next,  the  common  sulphur 
ointment   must   be  rubbed   thoroughly  over   the 
body.     This  touches  and  is  fatal  to  the  itch-mite, 
already  exposed  in  whole  or  part  by  the  burrows 
being  broken  down  by  the  soft  soap  and  hot  water. 
If  it  does  not  produce  too  much  irritation,  the 
ointment  may  be  left  on  over-night,  and  removed 
by  a  hot   bath  in  the  morning.     With   delicate 


52  ANIMAL   PARASITES 

skin,  sulphur  soap  can  be  used  instead  of  sulphur 
ointment.  If  one  such  application  as  described 
does  not  suffice,  it  must  be  repeated.  All  the 
patent  and  popular  medicines  advertised  latelv, 
on  account  of  the  itch  being  so  widely  spread 
through  the  country,  are  pretty  sure  to  depend 
for  their  success  on  the  presence  of  sulphur,  the 
smell  of  which  is  hid,  more  or  less,  by  other  in- 
gredients. There  are  many  other  substances  used 
by  physicians  to  destroy  this  parasite.  The  above- 
described  method  will  be  sure  to  succeed  if  thor- 
ouglily  carried  out^  as  of  course  a,  few  mites  left 
will  soon  multiply  and  again  annoy  the  patient. 
Those  who  are  out  of  the  reach  of  medicines  and 
hot  baths,  may  often  succeed  in  getting  rid  of 
their  minute  friends,  by  bearing  in  mind  the  gen- 
eral laws  of  treatment;  namely,  that  the  hard 
scarf-skin  must  be  softened  and  broken  down,  and 
afterwards,  whatever  kills  the  acari,  and  does  not 
hurt  the  skin,  be  applied.  Necessity  Avill  be  the 
mother  of  invention. 

Nothing  is  more  difficult,  or,  in  fact,  dangerous, 
than  to  ofive  medical  directions  to  be  followed  hw 
the  community.  We  would  most  strongly  advise 
any  one  suffering  from  the  ravages   of  this  little 


OF   THE    HUMAN   SKIN.  53 

pest  to  apply  to  a  physician,  and  let  him  conduct 
the  treatment.  Those  who  make  a  specialty  of 
cutaneous  medicine,  fortunately,  nowadays,  have 
a  large  choice  of  substances  and  methods  of  appli- 
cation, which  can  be  adapted  to  the  social  condi- 
tion, the  degree  of  cutaneous  sensibility,  and  the 
age  and  sex  of  the  patients  applying  to  them. 
This  is  of  more  importance  than  would  at  first 
sight  appear.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
skin  is  torn  and  lacerated  by  the  victim's  scratch- 
ing, from  which  we  have  an  artificial  inflammation 
of  the  surface,  to  be  always  taken  into  considera- 
tion in  our  method  of  treatment.  A  thick-skinned 
laborer  needs  very  different  applications  from  a 
delicate  child,  or  feeble  Avoman.  We  therefore 
again  caution  against  self-treatment. 

A  single  word  in  regard  to  the  clothing  :  All  un- 
derclothes should  be  washed  thoroughly.  Outside 
garments,  contrary  to  the  generally-received  idea, 
do  not  need  anything  done  for  them.  In  the 
great  hospital  at  Vienna,  fifteen  hundred  cases  are 
treated  yearly,  and  no  attempt  at  -disinfecting  the 
clothing  is  found  necessary.  The  mite  lives  in  the 
skin.  It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  contagion 
comes  from  personal  intercourse,  particularly  from 


54  AI^IMAL   PARASITES,    ETC. 

hand  to  hand.  The  most  high-bred,  reiined,  and 
cleanly,  are  not  exempt.  Although  thus  highly 
contagious,  from  the  mite  being  passed  from  one 
to  another,  yet  students  of  medicine  in  contact 
with  it  rarely  get  the  itch ;  and  the  writer  has 
examined  and  handled  hundreds  of  cases  with 
impunity. 


VEGETABLE   PARASITES 

OF  THE  HUMAN  SKIN. 


CHAPTER   I. 

We  have  given  an  account  of  some  of  the  most 
common  of  the  animal  parasites  which  live  on 
and  in  the  hnman  skin.  We  now  propose  to 
explain  the  vegetable  jpar«527es  which  succeed  •in 
growing  on  and  in  the  skin  and  its  appendages  — 
the  hairs  and  nails.  They  all  belong  to  the  class 
of  cryptogams  and  order  fungi,  like  the  common 
moulds,  seen  to  spring  up  and  cover  everything 
where  warmth,  moisture,  and  a  quiet  resting-place 
give  opportunity  for  development.  Whether  they 
all  are  the  same,  or  different  species,  and  whether 
variety  in  soil  and  locality  influences  the  form  of 
their  development,  we  leave  for  botanists  hereafter 
to  decide.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  there 
are  microscopic  vegetable  organisms  which  ger- 
(55) 


56  VEGETABLE    PAKASITES 

minate  in  the  scarf-skin  of  the  human  body,  in 
the  nails,  in  the  little  follicles  from  which  the  hairs 
grow,  and  in  the  root  and  shaft  of  the  hair  itself; 
and  that  their  presence  produces  partial  destruc- 
tion or  total  loss  of  the  hair  or  nails,  and  on  the 
skin  certain  morbid  appearances  which  have  been 
classified  among  cutaneous  diseases. 

We  shall  confine  ourselves  to  those  which  thus 
give  rise  to  diseases  of  the  skin,  for  there  are  many 
more  vegetable  growths  that  infest  the  mucous 
membrane  and  internal  portions  of  the  body.  A 
knowledge  of  the  presence  of  these  vegetable  or- 
ganisms in  certain  cutaneous  affections,  and  their 
being  the  cause  of  them,  does  not  date  back  be- 
yond 1840,  when  the  microscope  had  commenced 
to  reach  a  degree  of  development  which  rendered 
its  use  constant  not  only  in  anatomy,  but  als©  in 
clinical  medicine.  From  that  time  to  the  present, 
scientific  physicians  and  surgeons  have  steadily 
and  constantly  been  sweeping  the  fields  of  their 
microscopes  as  the  astronomers '  have  swept  the 
starry  field  with  their  telescopes,  and  thus  from  the 
efforts  and  studies  of  a  large  number  of  trained,  in- 
telligent, and  laborious  observers,  the  atoms  of  light 
in  the  heavens,  and  the  atoms  of  animal  and  veg- 


OF   THE    HUMAN    SKIN.  57 

etable  life  on  and  in  our  planet  and  its  inhabitants, 
have  revealed  new  worlds  of  existence  to  us. 

What,  now,  are  these  microscopic  germs  which 
plant  themselves  and  grow  on  and  in  our  skin  and 
its  appendages  ?  The  elements  of  which  they  are 
composed  may  be  divided  into  three  morphological 
formations  :  1.  SjDores  seen  under  the  microscope 
as  round  or  oblong  cells  with  definite  outline  ;  on 
these  cells,  in  certain  positions,  is  seen  a  brownish 
spot.  2.  jSporidia,  or  strings  of  spores,  looking 
like  a  rosary.  3.  TJiaJIus  fibres^  as  they  are  called 
—  that  is,  long,  generally  pretty  straight,  fibres, 
with  double  parallel  outlines. 

Figure  8  represents  these  several  elements  and 
their  mode  of  development,  which  is  as  follows  : 
First,  a  long  thallus  fibre  increases  in  length,  then 
we  see  contractions  at  several  difiTerent  points,  giv- 
ing it  the  appearance  of  a  rosary,  and  finally  by 
further  contraction  the  separate  spores  are  set  free. 
Variety  in  the  relative  size  and  number  of  these 
separate  elements  constitutes,  most  probably,  the 
various  difierences  in  the  appearances  seen  in  the 
cutaneous  diseases  which  are  caused  hj  their  pres- 
ence. These  several  afiections  we  shall  describe 
in  a  future  chapter,  and  confine  ourselves  in  this 


58 


VECrETABLE    PARASITES 


to  explaining  how  and  why  vegetable  organisms 
plant  themselves,  and  grow  on  and  in  our  skin  and 
appendages. 

In  the  first  place,  w^here  do  these  microscopic 

Fig.  8. 


Showing  the  mode  of  reproduction  of  the 
achoriou .  —  Bennett. 

spores  or  seeds  of  fungi  come  from?  The* world 
is  full  of  them.  They  are  present  in  all  vegetable 
mould,  and  are  carried  everywhere  by  the  air  and 
water.  The  dust  from  our  window-panes  will 
reveal  them  under  the  microscope.     The  air  we 

It  is   with  the   greatest 


breathe  contains  them. 


OF   THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  59 

difficulty  that  fungous  mould  can  he  prevented  from 
germinating:  for  instance,  in  or  on  vegetable  and 
animal  substances.  Every  one  knows  how  soon 
dampness  produces  mould.  Now  the  vegetable 
parasites  of  the  skin  are,  as  we  said,  one  or  sev- 
eral species  of  fungi.  So  constant  is  the  presence 
of  spores  in  nature,  that  it  has  really  become  more 
difficult  to  explain  why  more  do  not  germinate  on 
our  bodies  than  why  any  do.  A  certain  and  steady 
degree  of  warmth  and  moisture  are  requisite  for 
the  development  of  vegetable  life.  Besides  this 
is  needed  rest  and  quiet  of  the  seed,  that  it  may 
take  in  its  nourishment  from  the  surrounding  me- 
dium. Your  inkstand  will  have  no  mould  on  it  if 
it  is  in  daily  use.  The  same  with  your  jars  of 
preserves  and  pickles.  A  well-raked  garden-path 
has  no  weeds,  as  also  a  well-tilled  field.  The 
reason  why  the  vegetable  spores  do  not  germinate 
more  often  on  the  living  body  is,  that  the  body's 
growth  and  constant  change  of  tissue^  throwing  off 
of  old  to  be  replaced  by  new,  interferes  witli  their 
opportunity.  Warmth  aud  moisture  are  present, 
but  the  third  element  requisite  to  development  is 
wanting;  namely,  a  quiet  resting-place.  Hence 
we  readily  see  that  the  more  we  use   soap   aud 


60  VEGETABLE   PARASITES 

water  to  macerate  and  wash  off  the  effete  scarf-skin 
from  our  bodies,  the  less  liable  will  the  skin  and 
its  appendages  be  to  afford  a  suitable  soil  for  the 
germination  of  the  vegetable  parasites.  Medical 
experience  shows  this  most  perfectly.  The  cuta- 
neous diseases  due  to  the  presence  of  vegetable 
growths  are  more  frequent  amongst  the  lowest 
classes,  where  dirt  and  lack  of  cleanliness  prevail. 
But  dirty  persons  in  the  upper  classes  are  equally 
liable  to  be  infested ;  immunity  being  in  direct 
ratio  to  the  use  of  soap  and  water.  We  have  no 
need  to  pause  here  to  discuss  the  point  whether 
people  at  all  ages  offer  a  better  field  for  the  ger- 
mination of  vegetable  spores  when  their  bodily 
health  is  reduced.  It  is  at  present  enough  for  us 
to  know  that  these  parasites  will  flourish  on  the 
most  healthy  person,  greatly  assisted,  of  course,  by 
lack  of  personal  cleanliness,  because  then  the  seeds 
of  the  fungus  have  all  the  conditions  requisite  for 
their  development.  In  disease,  one  condition  is 
to  be  remembered  as  favoring  the  opportunity  for 
growth  of  the  vegetable  parasites  :  it  is,  that  then 
the  healthy  renewal  of  tissue  is  either  much  re- 
tarded, or  perhaps  wholly  ceases.  Hence  spores 
have  a  better  chance  to  develop.     Bodily  cleanli- 


OF   THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  61 

ness,  also,  during  disease,  is  much  less  readily 
carried  out,  and  we  frequently  have  also  the  addi- 
tional needed  element  of  moisture  in  the  fluid 
natural  and  morbid  products  of  the  skin. 

How,  now,  do  these  microscopic  spores  get  into 
the  epithelium  or  scarf-skin,  the  nails,  or  into  the 
hair-follicles,  and  the  hair  itself?  The  spores, 
from  their  extreme  tenuity,  penetrate  themselves 
quite  deeply  into  the  cracks  and  fissures  of  the 
epidermis  and  hair,  and  more  rapidly  and  still 
deeper  when  the  filaments  are  formed.  These 
push,  sometimes  merely  mechanically,  into  readily 
formed  cavities  of  the  body,  as  in  the  follicles  of 
the  hair,  or  by  elevation  of  the  epithelium.  Or- 
ganic action,  however,  soon  taking  place,  the  hard 
spore  presses  on  the  soft  tissue  and  causes  resorp- 
tion, thus  enabling  the  spores,  filaments,  and 
mycelium  to  penetrate  the  tissues  of  the  body. 
This  is  only  the  process  of  germinating  we  see 
exciting  such  great  force  everywhere  in  nature, 
enabling  the  vegetable  seed  to  break  through  its 
hard  husk,  and  the  young  plant  to  push  its  roots 
into  the  firm  soil.  The  penetration,  therefore,  of 
these  spores  into  the  tissues  of  the  body,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  skin  and  its  appendages,  the  hair  and 


62  VEGETABLE   PARASITES 

nails,  is  simply  mechanical,  and  as  readily  ex- 
plained as  the  migration  of  any  other  foreign 
bodies  from  one  place  in  the  body  to  another. 
The  vegetable  growth  pushes  aside  the  animal 
tissue.  Pressure  always  produces  absorption  in 
the  animal  organism  ;  hence  the  spores,  in  penetrat- 
ing and  pushing  deeper  into  the  underlyiug  tissue, 
cause  atrophy  of  the  fibres  of  the  skin  in  those 
places.  The  cells  containing  the  fat  disappear, 
as  a  section  of  the  skin  will  show,  and  a  cavity  is 
formed  which  is  thinner  at  the  spot  where  the 
growing  parasite  has  fixed  itself.  We  have,  there- 
fore, now  seen  where  these  vegetable  spores  come 
from,  they  being  on  every  substance  the  skin  comes 
in  contact  with,  even  the  air,  in  which  they  float; 
and  we  have  also  seen  how  they  penetrate  the 
special  tissues  we  are  considering.  Let  us  study, 
now,  the  efiect  of  their  presence  and  growth  in 
these  tissues. 

The  mere  presence  of  the  vegetable  parasite  in 
the  epidermis  is  not  of  itself  an  injury,  since  it 
produces  only  slight  thickening  and  some  discol- 
oration, with  a  branny  condition  of  the  surface. 
Unfortunately,  however,  itching  is  also  caused, 
sometimes  quite  excessive,  rendering  the  conse- 


OF   THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  63 

qiient  scratching  not  only  disagreeable,  liiit  pos- 
itively injurious.  The  effect  of  the  parasites  in 
the  shaft  of  the  hair  and  the  hair-follicles  is  much 
more  deleterious,  so  far  as  the  life  and  growth  of 
the  hairs  are  concerned ;  for  these  latter  may  in 
consequence  either  drop  out  entirely,  or  become 
brittle,  dry,  and  easily  broken  and  rubbed  off, 
those  remaininsr  beins;  lis^hter  in  color,  and  not 
so  strons:  and^  healthy.  Absolute  loss  of  hair 
from  the  whole  surface  of  the  cutaneous  envelope 
may  be  caused  by  vegetable  parasites,  or  the  en- 
tire scalp  rendered  as  smooth  and  free  of  them  as 
a  billiard-ball.  Of  course  this  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  baldness,  the  result  of  natural  or 
premature  loss  of  the  hair.  Further  than  this, 
the  presence  of  vegetable  growth  in  the  epidermis 
or  hair-follicle  produces  an  eruption  of  a  peculiar 
character,  simulating  some  natural  cutaneous  dis- 
eases, and  causing,  also,  itching  and  consequent 
scratching.  The  nails,  when  infested,  become 
brittle,  dry,  thickened,  and  crumbling.  More- 
over, masses  of  vegetable  growth  may  lie  half 
imbedded  in  the  skin,  which,  producing  loss  of 
the  hair,  and  being  of  a  yellowish  color,  finally 
'give  the  cutaneous  surface  a  most  revolting  appear- 


64  VEGETABLE   PARASITES 

ance,  as  well  as  simulating  the  products  of  true 
disease  of  the  skin.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore, 
that  it  is  not  only  extremely  interesting,  but  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  physician  to  be  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  natural  history  of  these  veget- 
able parasites,  so  that  he  may  be  able  to  detect  them 
when  on  the  skin,  or  its  appendages,  the  hair  and^ 
nails.  He  must  also  be  acquainted  with  all  their 
phases  of  development,  and  the  appearances  their 
presence  produces,  and  thus  be  able  to  distinguish 
the  effects  they  cause  from  similar  ones,  the  result 
of,  so  to  speak,  true  diseases.  Fortunately  the 
more  extended  use  of  the  microscope  by  medical 
practitioners  places  this  recognition  more  and 
more  in  their  power.  It  is  our  object  here,  how- 
ever, to  let  the  laiti/  know  of  their  existence,  and 
the  consequences  of  their  continued  growth  on  the 
surface  of  our  bodies. 

These  vegetable  spores  are  microscopic  objects, 
varying  in  size,  being  some  thousanths  of  an  inch. 
As  we  said,  their  smallness  enables  them  to  pen- 
etrate every  natural  cavity,  such  as  the  folds  in 
the  skin  ;  and  the}?-  are  carried  everywhere  by  the 
wind  where  dust  can  get.  Their  form  is  generally 
oval  or  spherical.     They  are  very  firm,  so  as  to  be 


OF  THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  65 

scarcely  crushed  between  the  glass   slides  of  the 
microscrope.     Before  they  are  thrown  off  they  are 
not  so  firm,  but  more  elastic  and  pliant.     They  do 
not  lose  their  power  of  germinating  by  drying, 
except  under  a  heat  of  150*^   Fahrenheit.     Being 
less  dense  than  water,  they  float  upon  it,  and  are 
by  that  means  also  spread  far  and  w^ide.     They 
are  nearly  colorless  —  gray,  brown,  or  yellowish 
when  possessing  any  color.     When  in  numbei*s, 
they  give   a  gritty  feel,   and    mouldy  taste   and 
smell.     They  are  not  much  affected  by  chemical 
agents.     Tincture  of  iodine  gives  them  a  dark, 
yellowish-brown  look,  like  other  purely  nitrogen- 
ous substances.     AYhen  their  cellulose  walls  are 
not  colored  blue  by  the  action  of  the  iodine,  their 
nitrogenous  contents  become  brown.     On  treating 
them  with  hydrochloric  or  nitric  acid,  or  hot  sul- 
phuric acid,  before  adding  tincture  of  iodine,  the 
nitrogenous  part  coagulates,  contracts,  separates 
from  the  sides  of  the  spores,  and  remains,  forming 
irregular   masses    in   the    centre.     On   applying, 
afterwards,  tincture  of  iodine  to  these  parts,  they 
become  brown,  and   the   cellulose   walls  greenish 
—  the  complementary  color  of  the  blue   of  the 
cellulose  and  the  brown  of  the  tincture  of  iodine. 
5 


66  VEGETABLE   PARASITES 

The  structure  of  the  spores  is  very  simple.  All 
present  a  cell  without  a  nucleus,  unless  the  brown 
or  yellowish  spot  on  them  can  be  considered  as 
such.  The  cellulose  walls  are  thin,  but  firm  and 
resisting. 

If,  now,  the  reader  has  had  the  patience  to  come 
so  far  with  us,  he  has  learned  that  there  are 
minute  microscopic  seeds  of  fungi  scattered  broad- 
cast in  the  earth,  water,  and  air,  and  that  they  can 
insinuate  themselves  into  the  skin  and  its  appen- 
dages, the  nails  and  hair.  When  they  have  thus 
planted  themselves  and  germinated,  they  prevent 
the  hair's  proper  growth  and  condition,  discolor 
the  skin,  gather  in  tubercular  masses  upon  it, 
cause  peculiar  eruptions,  and  are  accompanied  by 
sometimes  excessive  itching.  All  this  simulates 
other  cutaneous  ajffections  of  a  non-parasitic 
origin. 

We  will  grant  that  except  the  loss  of  hair,  and 
occasional  loathsome  appearances  produced  by  the 
presence  of  these  vegetable  parasites,  they  are  not 
to  be  feared  or  regarded  with  any  special  horror, 
certainlv  not  with  the  extreme  dis£:ust  the  animal 
parasites  involuntarily  create.  Why,  then,  is  it 
so  necessary  for  physicians  to  be  familiar  with  the 


OF  THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  67 

parasitic  cutaneous  diseases,  and  why  also  should 
the  community  understand  something  about  them 
and  their  cause,  the  fungus?  Our  answer  is  sim- 
ply that  these  cutaneous  affections  are  liigldy  con- 
tagious^ by  the  transportation  of  the  spores  from 
one  person  to  another.  Every  one  who  has  had 
any  experience  in  boarding-schools,  day-schools, 
children's  hospitals,  etc.,  knows  how,  like  wildfire, 
"ringworm,"  or  "scald  head,"  will  spread  among 
the  inmates  and  attendants,  and  how  difficult  it  is 
to  eradicate  these  when  once  started,  even  with 
the  best  attention  and  persevering  labor.  It  is 
well  known,  also,  how  a  barber's  shop,  whose  soaps 
and  brushes  are  invested  with  vegetable  spores, 
will  spread  amongst  the  customers  a  parasitic  dis- 
ease, which,  together  with  some  others  not  par- 
asitic, gets  the  popular  name  of  "  barber's-itch." 
Some  of  the  vegetable  parasitic  diseases  are  more 
contagious  than  others.  It  would  also  seem  as  if 
these  affections  were  at  times  almost  epidemic,  yet 
we  know  they  arise  from  contagion,  or  individual 
contact. 

There  is  still  another  method  by  which  the  hu- 
man race  becomes  infested :  namely,  from  the 
lower  animals,  and  these  pass  the  parasites  from 


68  VEGETABLE   PARASITES 

one  to  another.  Thus  the  following  has  been  ob- 
served :  a  rat  or  mouse  gets  a  vegetable  fungus 
growing  upon  its  skin  and  hair ;  this  is  commu- 
nicated" to  the  cat,  which  catches  and  plays  with 
the  animal ;  the  child  handling  the  cat  becomes 
thereby  affected,  and  finally  the  parents  or  nurse, 
from  the  infant.  The  peculiar  contagious  charac- 
ter of  parasitic  disease  is,  as  we  have  said,  best 
shown  by  children's  schools,  foundling  hospitals, 
and  the  like  institutions. 

Finally,  we  hear  some  one  ask  how  do  any  of 
us  escape  the  planting,  germination,  and  ravages 
of  these  vegetable  parasites,  since,  w^hen  present, 
they  are  so  contagious  and  so  readily  transplanted, 
and  moreover  are  so  innumerable  in  earth,  air  and 
water.  It  is  in  truth  difficult  to  answer  this, 
otherwise  than  as  we  have  above  :  namely,  that, 
like  all  other  seeds,  few  find  a  suitable  place  to 
develop;  ^.  e.,  quiet,  warmth,  and  moisture  to- 
gether. Moreover,  the  continual  throwing  off  of 
effete  material  from  the  surface  of  the  skin  must 
rid  us  of  thousands  of  spores  which  are  ready  to 
germinate.  The  most  potent  means  of  preven- 
tion, however,  is  the  continual  brushing,  combing, 
and  shampooing  the  hair,  and  of  scrubbing    the 


OF   THE    HIBIAN   SKIN.  69 

body  with  plenty  of  soap  and  water.  Dirt  and 
uncleanliness  are  the  inheritance  of  poverty ;  hence 
it  is  that  among  the  lowest  classes  most  parasitic 
diseases  are  found ;  that  they  are  not,  however, 
confined  to  them,  our  own  experience,  as  that  of 
other  dermatologists,  amply  conjQrms,  for  we  have 
seen  enough  even  where  cleanliness  ought  to  be 
next  to  godliness. . 


70  VEGETABLE   PARASITES 


CHAPTER    11. 

We  have  explained  what  the  vegetable  parasites 
were,  where  they  come  from,  ancl  how  they  pen- 
etrate and  develop  in  the  human  skin  and  its 
appendages,  the  hair  and  nails.  Xow  we  will 
endeavor  to  explain  more  particularly  the  ap- 
pearances on  the  general  cutaneous  envelope  of 
the  body  which  are  produced  by  the  presence  and 
growth  of  these  fungi  or  moulds,  and  also  to  teach 
our  readers  how,  if  possible,  to  recognize  their 
existence,  and  the  safest  and  best  means  of  pre- 
vention and  cure.  This  is,  however,  by  no  means 
an  easy  task,  and  we  cannot  hope  to  succeed  so 
well  as  we  did  in  our  books  on  the  eye,  and  the 
methods  of  restoring  or  preserving  sight.  The 
reason  is,  the  difficulty  of  describing  a  cutaneous 
affection  so  that  even  those  familiar  with  it  can 
recognize  a  given  case.  It  is,  however,  quite 
necessary  that  the  community  —  the  laity,  as  the 
profession  call  them  —  should  have  some  general 


OF   THE   HUMAN    SKIN.  71 

idea  of  the  vegetable  parasitic  growths,  and  the 
morbid  or  unnatural  appearances  they  produce  on 
the  surface  of  our  bodies.  Perhaps  the  best  plan 
will  be  to  take  up  in  turn  each  disease,  as  there 
are  not  many,  describe  what  it  looks  like,  what  it 
simulates,  what  its  consequences  are,  and  what 
can  be  done  for  cure  by  its  unfortunate  possessor, 
or  that  possessor's  parents  or  attendants  ;  in  other 
words,  to  give  a  medical  history,  as  little  techni- 
cal as  possible,  and  as  clearly  and  concisely  ex- 
pressed as  the  subject  will  allow  of. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  these  vegetable 
parasitic  diseases  we  are  about  to  describe,  are 
not  new  affections  recently  appearing  in  the  world, 
but  are  probably  as  old  as  man  himself.  Veg- 
etable* moulds  existed  before  man's  advent  on  our 
globe  ;  and  when  he  appeared,  they  attacked  and 
developed  on  his  skin,  as  on  that  of  other  animals. 
As  far  back  as  any  medical  writings  extend,  we 
can  trace  the  descriptions  of  diseases  which  we 
now  readily  place  in  the  list  of  those  due  to  the 
presence  of  a  vegetable  mould.  It  was  not  till 
about  1842,  that  the  physician's  inseparable  com- 
panion, the  microscope,  brought  to  light  the  cause 
of  these  several  cutaneous  troubles,  and  showed 


72  VEGETABLE    PARASITES 

US  the  spores,  and  their  method  of  germinating  on 
our  bodies.  The  various  fungous  diseases  had 
been,  by  one  dermatologist  after  another,  classed 
with  this  or  that  set  of  idiopathic  diseases,  accord- 
ing to  their  general  resemblance.  When,  as 
years  went  by,  and  in  one  after  another  of  them 
the  vegetable  parasite  was  discovered  by  the  new 
field  of  inquiry  being  more  carefully  studied  by 
many  busy  observers,  we  naturally  soon  arrived 
at  better  methods  of  treatment,  and  having  learned 
the  cause,  soon  found  means  of  removing  it,  in 
these  before  so  intractable  complaints.  The  suc- 
cess of  treatment,  and  the  novelty  of  discovery, 
brought  the  vegetable  parasitic  diseases  very 
prominently  forward,  not  only  amongst  the  pro- 
fession, but  also  the  laity,  who  soon  learned 
where  to  apply  for  relief,  induced  by  the  success 
witnessed  in  other's  cases.  Thus  some  idea  of 
these  affections  has  spread  abroad  in  the  commu- 
nity, here  in  America,  during  the  last  ten  years 
especially.  This  has  given  capital  opportunity 
for  travelling  and  advertising  quacks  to  placard 
the  streets,  and  their  temporary  offices,  with 
startling  and  fearful  pictures  of  these  diseases,  to 
impress  the  pocket  and  brain  of  their  credulous 


OF  THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  73 

customers.  It  is  very  true  that  there  are  enough 
medical  men  who  do  not  advertise,  and  yet  are 
arrant  quacks ;  but  it  is  still  truer  that  all  those 
who  do,  in  any  form,  are  sure  to  be  impostors, 
who  live  and  grow  rich  by  fleecing  the  credulous. 
Scald-head,  honeycomb  ringworm,  or,  in  tech- 
nical language,  favus,  is  the  first  of  the  parasitic 
cutaneous  diseases  we  will  attempt  to  describe. 
It  depends  on  the  presence  of  a  vegetable  forma- 
tion, called  achorion  Schonleini,  from  Prof.  Shon- 
lein,  who  discovered  the  fungus.  This  fungus 
consists  of  numerous  little  oval  or  rounded  bodies, 
which  are  the  spores  or  sporules  we  described  in  a 
previous  number ;  they  are  about  one  three-thou- 
sandth of  an  inch  in  diameter.  Besides  these, 
there  are  numerous  tubes,  varying  in  diameter ;  their 
subdivision  forming  the  spores,  as  seen  in  the  figure 
accompanying  the  previous  article  on  this  subject. 
Favus  attacks  three  separate  structures  of  the 
skin:  namely,  the  openings  of  the  little  follicles 
from  which  the  hair  grows,  the  epidermis  or  scarf- 
skin,  and  the  nails.  The  hair  follicles  are  the  most 
frequent  seat  of  the  disease,  and  it  is  most  com- 
mon on  the  scalp.  When  the  fungus  starts  to 
grow,  little  yellow  specks  are  seen  scattered  here 


74  VEGETABLE   PARASITES 

and  there;  which,  under  the  magnify ing-glass, 
prove  to  be  minute  rounded,  bright-yellow  crusts, 
depressed  in  the  centre,  and  having  one  or  more 
hairs  passing  up  through  them.  These  minute 
yellow  crusts  gradually  and  steadily  increase  in 
size,  till  they  are  about  one-fourth  of  an  inch  in 
diameter,  and  then  the  edge  is  elevated  above  the 
surface  of  the  skin.  It  can  now  be  raised  from 
its  bed,  and,  if  done  with  care,  a  circular  depres- 
sion is  seen,  corresponding  to  the  convex  lower 
surface  of  the  crust;  this  soon  fills  up,  the  subcu- 
taneous tissue  having  been  compressed.  A  new 
favus  cup,  however,  shortly  makes  its  appearance 
again,  unless  proper  means  are  taken  to  prevent 
it.  These  masses  of  the  fungus  may  be  scattered 
separately,  or  if  increasing  greatly  in  number, 
they  become  thickly  set  together,  touching  and  en- 
croaching on  each  other,  thus  forming  irregular 
yellowish  tubercular  masses,  rising  considerably 
above  the  skin,  in  which  the  hairs  are  tangled. 
For  other  characteristic  symptoms,  we  have  itch- 
ing, a  change  in  the  appearance  of  the  hairs,  and  a 
peculiar  odor  of  the  crusts .  The  itching  generally 
attracts  attention  first,  inducing  the  person  to 
scratch   the   afiected   part,  and  thereby  produce 


OF   THE    HUMAN   SKIN.  75 

propagation  of  the  affection  from  the  scalp  to  other 
parts  of  the  body.  The  hairs  lose  their  gloss,  be- 
come dull  and  dry,  and  assume  a  grayish  or  red- 
dish color.  They  break  more  readil}^  than 
natural,  are  often  twisted  or  split  longitudinally, 
and  pull  out  more  easily.  When  this  vegetable 
mould  has  grown  a  long  time  on  the  scalp,  the 
hair  follicles  are  destroyed,  and  the  hairs  fall  out, 
producing  permanent  and  irremediable  baldness. 
The  sebaceous  follicles,  which  secrete  the  natural 
and  necessary  oil  or  fat  of  the  skin,  are  also  de- 
stroyed, so  that  the  parts  affected  become  dry,  and 
like  parchment  to  the  feel.  The  odor  is  quite 
characteristic,  resembling  that  of  mice;  ^.e.,  a 
sort  of  mouldy  smell. 

The  presence  of  the  parasite,  and  the  consequent 
itching  and  scratching,  produce  a  certain  amount 
of  eruption  and  rash  over  the  parts  affected  ;  the 
neighboring  glands  may  also  swell  up,  and  form 
lumps  under  the  skin.  The  dirt  which  predisposed 
to  favus,  of  course  predisposes  to  the  presence  of  the 
animal  j)arasite  which  inhabits  the  scalp,  and  which 
w^e  have  already  described.  This  increases  the 
itching,  and  complicates  the  whole  course  of 
the   disease.      They   are,   however,    much   more 


76  VEGETyVBLE    PARASITES  1 

readily  gotten  rid  of  than  the  vegetal3le  parasite. 
Favus  may  cover  the  whole  scalp,  and  destroy  all 
the  hair.  The  person,  by  scratching,  carries  off 
some  of  the  favus  mould,  and  transplants  it  on 
other  portions  of  the  body.  Hence,  when  of  long 
standing,  we  are  pretty  sure  to  see  patches  of 
favus  masses  on  different  portions  of  the  body. 
The  vegetable  matter  also  gets,  by  scratching, 
beneath  the  nail,  where  it  takes  root  and  germi- 
nates, as  there  it  finds  all  the  requisite  elements 
for  development ;  namely,  a  steady  degree  of 
warmth,  moisture,  and  a  quiet  resting-place. 
After  the  spores  have  remained  for  some  time, 
and  commenced  to  germinate  beneath  the  nail, 
the  latter  becomes  thickened  over  the  affected  part, 
while  the  color  changes,  becoming  gradually  more 
and  more  yellow,  from  the  favus  mould  shining 
through.  As  the  fungus  grows  and  increases,  it 
gradually  presses  on  the  nail,  causing  further 
changes,  the  longitudinal  stride  become  very  evi- 
dent, and  fissures  are  formed.  By  degrees,  as  the 
pressure  on  the  subjacent  nail  continues,  it  becomes 
thinner  and  thinner,  until  a  perforation  occurs, 
and  then  a  favus  cup  makes  its  appearance  exter- 
nally, more  or  less  deformed,  however,  owing  to 


OF   THE   HUIMAN    SKIN.  77 

the  pressure   previously  exercised  upon  it  from 
above. 

In  an  excessive  case  of  favus  of  the  scalp  or 
body,  the  appearances  are  so  marked,  that  any  one 
who  has  ever  seen  a  case,  or  a  good  portrait  of  one, 
would  be  in  no  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of  the  affec- 
tion. But  there  are  many  other  diseases  of  the  skin, 
some  of  the  appearances  of  which  so  simulate  the 
various  stages  of  favus,  that  we  can  hardly  recom- 
mend any  one,  unless  forced  to  by  being  away 
from  medical  advice,  to  attempt  treatment  except 
under  the  advice  of  a  physician ;  not,  however, 
an  advertising  quilck  dermatologist.  The  only 
treatment  we  can  with  safety  recommend,  is  to 
soften  the  favus  crusts  in  some  oily  substance,  in 
order  to  remove  them,  keep  up  for  weeks  a  steady 
daily  epilation,  or  pulling  out  of  the  hairs, 
around  and  over  the  affected  part,  and  rubbing  in  • 
a  solution  of  two  grains  of  corrosive  sublimate  to 
an  ounce  of  water.  That  this  latter  medicine 
taken  internally  is  a  deadly  poison,  we  believe 
every  one  now  knows.  It  does  no  harm  exter- 
nally, and  serves  to  destroy  the  spores  and  pre- 
vent their  germination.  The  epilation  of  the 
hairs  is  a  difficult  work,  as  they  are  very  brittle 


78  VEGETABLE   PARASITES 

and  readily  broken  off,  instead  of  pulled  out. 
There  is,  of  course,  considerable  risk  of  conta- 
gion, especially  of  the  nails,  for  the  operator. 
Favus,  fortunately,  is  not  a  common  disease,  and 
is  found  naturally  amongst  the  lowest  classes, 
where  misery,  and  its  accompaniment,  dirt,  give 
a  large  planting  field  to  these  spores,  floating  in 
the  air  and  water,  and  on  nearly  every  substance 
with  which  the  skin  comes  in  contact.  During 
disease,  this  fungus,  achorion  Schdnletm,  does 
not  flourish  well. 

Ringworm  of  the  head  and  body  is  the  next 
parasitic  disease  we  will  describe.  Its  technical 
name  is  herpes  tonsurans^  and  it  is  due  to  the 
presence  of  a  fungus  called  trichophyton  tonsurans^ 
showing  under  the  microscope  the  spores  and 
sporular  tubes  we  have  above  described,  in  the 
root  and  shaft  of  the  hair.  The  first  symptoms 
of  the  growth  of  the  parasite  is  itching,  followed 
by  a  generally  vesicular  eruption,  taking  a  circular 
form.  The  hairs,  where  the  affection  exists,  be- 
come dry  and  dull,  losing  their  lustre,  and  gray- 
ish or  reddish,  according  to  the  color  of  the  per- 
son's hair;  i.  e.^  light  or  dark.  They  are  also 
twisted  and  very  brittle,  breaking  off  a  little  way 


OF   THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  79 

above  the  skin,  and  looking  as  if  the  hair  had 
been  cut  short,  like  a  tonsure.  With  the  contin- 
uance of  the  itching,  the  skin  swells  somewhat,  and 
looks  of  a  darker  color ;  the  fungus  also  appears 
on  the  hairs  and  surface  of  the  skin.  Finally,  the 
hair  follicles  are  inflamed,  and  the  tissue  around, 
and  the  matter  then  formed,  tends  to  destroy  the 
fungus  itself.  Thus  more  or  less  baldness  is  pro- 
duced on  the  scalp,  and  on  the  body  where  the 
hair  is  not  so  strong,  and  the  integument  diflfereut ; 
this  disease  forms  reddish-looking  scaly  rings,  fa- 
miliar to  all  as  ringworm.  Of  course  the  symp- 
toms and  appearances  will  vary  according  as  the 
disease  is  on  the  scalp  or  body.  All  sorts  of 
remedies  are  popular  amongst  the  various  classes 
of  the  community.  Epilation,  and  the  application 
of  a  parasiticide,  as  above  described  for  favus,  are 
the  two  quickest  and  best  methods  of  treatment. 
The  success  of  the  popular  remedies  is  entirely 
due  to  their  irritating  the  skin,  and  thus  making  it 
throw  off  more  quickly  the  diseased  hairs  and 
surrounding  scarf-skin. 

Alopecia  areata  is  our  next  disease  to  be  noticed. 
It  is  due  to  the  presence  of  a  fungus  called  micro- 
sporon  Audouini,  mostly  the   spores   above   de- 


80  VEGETABLE   PARASITES 

scribed,  infiltrated,  so  to  speak,  through  the  hair, 
rendering  it  so  brittle  as  to  break  off  close  to  the 
skin.  The  disease  has  no  popular  name.  It  pro- 
duces bald  spots,  when  the  hair  is  as  cleanly  re- 
moved as  by  the  very  closest  shaving,  the  skin  not 
showing  any  other  signs  of  the  disease.  At  first 
there  is  some  slight  itching,  and  the  hairs  soon 
commence  to  fall  out.  This  may  extend  to  every 
hair  upon  the  body.  Generally,  however,  it  is 
confined  to  the  head,  and  when  occurring  in  a 
young  person,  gives  their  scalp,  as  smooth  as  a 
billiard-ball,  a  truly  extraordinary  appearance. 
When  it  has  lasted  some  time,  the  skin  becomes 
slightly  puffy  and  parchment-like.  It  is  not,  ap- 
parently, so  contagious  as  the  affections  previously 
spoken  of.  A  patch  of  scalp  quite  destitute  of 
hair  is  an  important  matter,  especially  when  below 
where  any  head-gear  will  cover  it,  particularly  for 
young  ladies.  When  the  whole  scalp  is  clear,  and 
the  eyebrows  gone,  then  it  assumes  still  more  im- 
portance ;  for,  no  matter  what  the  deceptions  of 
fashion  may  be,  we  believe  young  ladies  like  to 
have  some  real  hair  of  their  own.  The  ravages 
of  this  parasite  are  hard  to  repair.  Often  the  hair 
ceases  to  grow  again,  or  only  in  spots ;  treatment 


or   THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  81 

must  be  energetic,  and  properly  conducted.  Epi- 
lation of  all  the  hairs  surrounding  a  spot,  steadily 
pursued,  and  the  application  of  some  remedy  to 
kill  the  spores,  are  the  means  employed.  Stimu- 
lation of  the  skin  afterwards,  even  to  repeated 
blistering,  may  induce  the  hair  to  grow  again. 

Barber's  itch  is  the  name  which  has  been  given 
by  the  community  to  the  next  disease  to  be  de- 
scribed :  sycosis,  or  mentagra,  is  its  technical 
name.  It,  however,  must  be  remembered  that 
this  name  of  barber's  itch  would  also  naturally  be 
applied  to  ringworm  on  the  bearded  face,  or,  in 
fact,  to  any  itching  eruption  of  the  face.  Eliny 
described  the  disease  perfectly,  just  as  it  raged  in 
old  Rome  under  the  Emperor  Tiberius  Claudius 
Csesar.  It  was  passed  from  one  to  another  of  the 
male  population  by  their  practice  of  kissing  when- 
ever they  met.  The  fungus  found  is  principally 
the  spores  of  microsporon  mentagrophytes,  which 
infests  the  hairs  and  hair  follicles.  These  latter 
swell  up  into  hard  lumps  under  the  skin.  The 
surface  looks  red,  swollen,  itches,  and  the  hairs 
fall  out  or  are  readily  removed  by  the  slightest 
pull.  Pustules  are  formed  where  the  diseased  fol- 
licles are,  and  the  whole  bearded  part  of  the  face 
6     ' 


82  VEGETABLE    PARASITES 

presents  a  most  loathsome  appearance,  such  as  to 
induce  the  unfortunate  person  to  submit  to  almost 
any  treatment — even  that  of  cauterizing  with  hot 
iron,  employed  in  old  Rome.  Nowadays  the  mi- 
croscope has  shown  us  the  cause  of  the  trouble, 
and  nature  points  to  the  cure  by  the  dropping  out 
of  the  diseased  hairs.  Epilation,  the  application 
of  a  parasiticide  and  cleanliness,  will  very  rapidly 
get  rid  of  the  disease.  Ignorance  of  this,  or  igno- 
rance of  just  how  this  should  be  done,  the  all- 
important  point,  allows  many  unfortunate  men, 
not  of  the  lower  classes,  to  go  about,  a  nuisance  to 
themselves  and  their  surroundings,  from  the  really 
loathsome  appearance  of  a  part  or  the  whole  of 
the  face.  Proper  treatment  is  very  efficacious  and 
successful. 

Chloasma,  Liver  Spots,  are  the  popular  names 
given  to  the  last  of  the  parasitic  diseases  of  the 
skin  we  are  to  speak  of,  although  in  reality  this 
cutaneous  affection,  as  we  shall  see,  has  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  true  chloasma,  or  wdth  the 
changed  color  of  the  skin  accompanying  organic 
or  functional  troubles  of  the  liver.  It  is  simply 
because  this  parasitic  disease  resembles  the  others 
in  appearance,  that  the  popular  names  have  been 


OF   THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  83 

applied  to  it.  It  is  sufficient  to  state  here  that 
chloasma,  liver  spots,  and  the  j'-ellowish  or  brown- 
ish discoloration  of  the  skin,  are  entirely  due  to 
irregularly  distributed  or  increased  amount  of  the 
jpigment  of  the  skin,  which,  according  as  it  is  pres- 
ent in  greater  or  less  quantity,  causes  the  differ- 
ence of  color  in  the  various  races  of  mankind. 
The  parasitic  affection  we  are  speaking  of,  also 
renders  the  surface  of  the  skin  of  a  more  or  less 
dark  brown  color ;  hence  the  laity,  and,  we  must 
add,  only  too  many  physicians,  confound  them. 
The  technical  name  of  the  affection  is  jpityriasis 
versicolor,  although  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  ordi- 
nary pityriasis,  the  name  having  been  given  to  it 
from  its  varying  color,  and  long  before  its  cause 
was  discovered  by  Dr.  Eichstadt  in  1846.  This 
cause  is  the  presence  in  the  scarf-skin  of  a  fungus 
called  microsporon  furfur ,  a  vegetable  growth  con- 
sisting of  oval  or  rounded  spores,  of  considerable 
size,  and  usually  collected  into  large  clusters  like 
bunches  of  grapes.  Besides  these  we  have  under 
the  microscope  the  jointed  and  branching  tubes. 
The  spores  and  tubes  are  also  found  on  and  in  the 
hairs,  but  not  to  such  an  extent  as  in  ringworm  of 
the  head  or  body. 


84  VEGETABLE  PARASITES 

The  affection  is  generally  seen  on  the  trunk  of 
the  body,  more  rarely  in  the  extremities,  although 
sometimes  covering  the  whole  surface  of  the  skin, 
with  perhaps  the  exception  of  the  head.  The 
portions  of  the  body  covered  by  the  clothing  are 
most  often  affected.  We  see  spots  no  larger  than 
the  head  of  a  pin,  up  to  patches  several  inches  in 
diameter,  and  of  irregular  outline.  These  are 
light  brown  or  yellowish,  hardly  differing  from 
the  normal  skin  between,  or  darker  brown  up  to 
almost  black.  The  larger  patches  are  made  up 
by  the  gradually  spreading  and  coalescing  of  the 
commencing  fine  spots.  The  affected  surface  will 
be  found  less  smooth  than  healthy  skin,  and 
a  fine  disquamation  going  on.  The  scarf-skin 
can  be  more  readily  scratched  up,  and  when 
placed  under  the  microscope  we  see  the  vegetable 
parasite  amongst  the  epithelial  scales.  The  pres- 
ence of  this  mould  causes  itching,  varying  greatly 
in  amount,  hardly  annoying  to  some  persons,  and 
to  others  positively  unbearable.  It  naturally  is 
most  likely  to  be  found  amongst  those  classes  in 
the  community  where  a  flannel  shirt  is  only  re- 
moved when  a  new  one  is  purchased ;  yet  of  all 
the  parasitic  affections  of  the  skin,  this  is  the  one 


OF  THE   HUMAN   SKIN.  85 

which  we  have  most  often  seen  in  the  highest  and 
wealthiest  classes.  It  is  contagious,  though  not 
so  much  so,  apparently,  as  some  of  the  other  veg- 
etable parasites.  We  have  seen  that  it  does  not 
especially  affect  the  hairs,  is  principally  confined  to 
the  scarf-skin,  and  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a 
weed  among  the  epithelial  cells. 

The  proper  treatment  is  so  simple  and  so  effica- 
cious, that  we  sometimes  lose  our  patience,  when 
we  find  those  applying  to  us  have  undergone  all 
sorts  of  useless  treatment  internally,  which  is  of 
no  more  service  than  dosing  a  river  to  kill  the 
weeds  in  the  meadows  watered  by  it.  We  have 
only  to  macerate  off  the  epidermis,  and  by  the 
application  of  a  parasiticide  prevent  the  germina- 
tion of  the  spores  until  they  are  finally  entirely 
gotten  rid  of.  Soaking  in  hot  water,  and  rubbing 
with  strong  soft  soap,  will  remove  the  scarf-skin  af- 
fected J  and  the  application  afterwards  of  a  solution 
of  two  grains  of  corrosive  sublimate  in  an  ounce 
of  water  is  all  that  is  needed  to,  in  a  few  days, 
cure  an  uncomfortable  and  often  suspicious-looking 
affection,  which,  without  proper  treatment,  will 
flourish  on  the  skin  for  a  lifetime.  The  confound- 
ing this  parasitic  disease  with  the  pigment  change 


86  VEGETABLE    PARASITES,    ETC. 

of  color  of  troubles  of  the  liver  or  other  organs, 
which  the  laity  naturally  enough  do,  but  which 
physicians,  at  least,  never  should,  gives  plenty  of 
opportunity  for  the  ^ale  of  patent  quack  medicines, 
beauty  washes,  et  cetera,  and  helps  support  the 
newspapers  by  the  advertisements  of  travelling 
charlatans. 

"VYe  trust  now  that  our  readers  have,  from  these 
chapters  on  the  vegetable  parasites  of  the  human 
skin,  derived  some  idea  of  what  the  parasites 
themselves  are,  the  appearances  they  produce  on 
the  cutaneous  envelope  and  its  appendages,  the 
hair  and  nails,  and  the  means  to  in  some  measure 
get  rid  of  them,  or  at  any  rate  avoid  their  plant- 
ing themselves  and  growing  on  the  surface  of  the 
body.  They  cannot  also  but  be  struck  with  the 
excellent  opportunity  ignorance  offers  to  quackery 
in  reference  to  these  affections.  Eemember,  an 
ounce  of  preventive  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure, 
and  that  preventive  is  simply  plenty  of  soap,  and 
lots  of  hot  water. 


FALSE    PARASITES 

OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY. 


Omitting  those  articulated  animals  which  only 
wound  men  when  they  are  irritated,  or  do  not  live 
at  all  upon  its  juices,  we  here  give  Dr.  Kucheu- 
meister's  Report  on  the  False  Parasites  of  the 
Human  Body.     These  are  :  — 

1.  The  scorpions.  The  common  European  scor- 
pion has  six  eyes,  and  can  only  produce  local  phe- 
nomena, which  are  said  to  disappear  by  treatment 
with  oils  or  ammonia,  and  in  which,  perhaps,  col- 
lodion would  prove  useful.  It  is  supposed  that 
the  effects  increase  with  the  age  of  the  animal,  and 
with  more  southern  climates.  The  eight-eyed  In- 
dian species  is  said  to  be  much  more  dangerous. 
Only  local  phenomena  can  be  laid  to  the  charge  of 
the  twelve-eyed  species  in  Algiers. 

2.  The  true  house  spiders.     Their  bite  scarcely 

(87) 


88  FALSE   PARASITES 

inflicts  a  worse  Avouiid  than  that  of  a  flea.  How- 
ever, some  of  the  larger  southern  spiders  may  be 
more  dangerous.  Treatment  with  cold  applica- 
tions (cold  earth  or  collodion)  is  sufficient.  It 
may  also  be  mentioned  that  a  hysterical  patient 
of  Lopez  pushed  spiders  under  her  eyelids,  in 
order  that  the  surgeon  might  remove  these  par- 
asites. 

3.  The  hunting  spiders.  To  this  class  belongs 
the  celebrated  Lycosa  tarantula,  first  referred  to 
by  Ferrante.  Many  are  inclined  to  regard  the 
tarantula  dance,  which  was  said  to  occur  after  the 
bite,  as  a  sort  of  chorea.  It  appears  to  me  that  in 
this  case  too  little  reference  has  been  made  to  the 
following  circumstance  :  it  may  probably  happen 
that  in  particular  cases  the  bite  of  the  tarantula 
may  produce  violent  local  irritation,  and  that  per- 
haps it  was  observed  accidentally  by  the  people 
that  violent  dancing,  and  keeping  up  the  perspira- 
tion in  bed,  quickly  healed  these  local  symptoms. 
To  excite  a  desire  of  dancinsr  in  those  who  were 
bitten,  and  thus  to  obtain  a  perspiration,  it  is  well- 
known  that  two  melodies  were  played  —  the  Tar- 
antula and  the  Pastorale.  Subsequently  this  cir- 
cumstance was  confused  or  forgotten,  and  in  course 


OF   THE   HUMAN   BODY.  GY) 

of  years  it  came  to  pass  that  as  soon  as  any  one 
was  bitten  by  a  tarantula,  they  played  to  him,  and 
he  was  obliged  to  dance.  Hence  it  might  easily 
happen  that  people  were  unable  to  imagine  a  tar- 
antula bite  without  its  being  followed  by  music, 
and,  in  consequence,  by  dancing.  Thus  the  bite 
and  the  remedy  came  to  be  so  mixed  up  together, 
that  the  people,  and  with  them  Ferrante,  could  no 
lono^er  distinijuish  between  the  two.  The  bite  is 
a  product  of  the  animal,  the  dancing  a  product  of 
the  music,  as  we  may  every  day  see  in  the  ball- 
rooms. 

4.  The  bees,  and  humble-bees,  wasps,  and 
hornets. 

5.  The  ants.  Of  course  we  need  not  here  speak 
in  detail  of  the  caterpillars,  toads,  and  snakes, 
which  may  accidentally  wound  and  poison  men 
with  their  bite  ;  nor  of  the  lizards,  if  any  of  them 
are  really  venomous.  They  would  not  be  men- 
tioned here  at  all,  if  the  popular  belief  had  not 
regarded  some  of  the  last-mentioned  animals,  as 
well  as  salamanders,  frogs,  and  tadpoles,  certain 
caterpillars,  centipedes,  beetles,  etc.,  as  actual 
parasites  of  man,  and  supposed  that  these  animals, 
nay,  even  some  species  of  fishes,  such  as  the  eels. 


yO  FALSE    TARASITES 

could  carry  on  a  parasitic  existence  in  the  interior 
of  the  human  intestine.  Unfortunately  medi- 
cal men  have  given  their  assistance  to  this  non- 
sense ;  and  I  myself  have  seen  one  allowing 
himself  to  be  fooled  by  a  patient  with  an  eel,  and 
another  with  a  frog.  With  such  follies  there  are 
only  two  ways  of  dealing — jest  and  scientific  ex- 
periment. The  former  has  been  done,  and  many, 
perhaps,  are  acquainted  with  the  satirical  tale  in 
which  a  medical  man  in  recent  times  has  castigated 
a  fool  of  this  kind,  who  chattered  about  the  pres- 
ence of  living  frogs  in  the  body  of  a  patient,  in 
the  same  style  as  Dr.  S.  C.  H.  Windier  (^swindler) 
once  derided  the  infusorian  theory  of  the  process 
of  fermentation.  But  such  remedies  are  not 
thoroufT^h-ofoius:,  and  cannot  effect  a  fundamental 
cure.  For  the  cure  of  these  follies  we  are  in- 
debted to  Berthold,  of  Littingen,  and  I  here  re- 
produce literally  his  conclusions : 

1.  All  observations  on  living  amphibia  having 
remained  loni?  in  the  human  bodv,  and  actini?  as 
the  cause  of  long  illnesses  in  it,  are  false. 

2.  Eggs  of  amphibia,  when  swallowed,  very 
soon  lose  their  power  of  development  in  the  stom- 
ach.     (Dr.  Kretschmar,  of  Stolpen,  informed  me 


OF   THE   HUMAN  BODY.  91 

as  an  analogous  case,  that  trout  often  devour  fer- 
tilized trouts'  eggs  at  the  spawning  time,  but  that 
these  eggs,  when  again  taken  out  of  the  stomachs 
of  the  trout,  and  put  uninjured  into  fresh  water,  do 
not  become  developed.) 

3.  It  is,  however,  possible  that  amphibia  may 
get  into  the  human  subject  by  intentional  or  acci- 
dental swallowing. 

4.  Such  animals  may  be  again  evacuated  either 
in  a  living  or  asphyxied  state,  when  vomiting  takes 
place  soon  after  they  are  swallowed. 

5.  If  this  vomiting  only  takes  place  at  a  later 
period,  the  animals  thrown  up  are  dead;  if  no 
vomiting  takes  place,  the  animals  are  more  or  less 
digested,  and  we  find  either  their  epidermis  or 
bones,  or  nothing  at  all  of  them,  in  the  faeces. 

6.  The  only  and  true  reason  why  the  amphibia 
cannot  permanently  live  in  the  human  body,  is  the 
moist  heat  of  at  least  eighty  degrees  Fah.,  which 
no  species  of  amphibia  (frogs  of  all  kinds,  frogs' 
spawn,  the  tadpoles  of  frogs  and  toads,  salaman- 
ders, tritons  and  their  spawn,  lizards,  and  slow- 
worms,  were  employed  in  the  experiments)  can 
resist  from  two  to  four  hours. 

The   method   of   experiment   was   as   follows : 


92  FALSE    PAKASITES 

Berthold  put  the  animals  just  mentioned  in  vessels 
with  water  and  air,  which  were  kept  from  two  to 
four  hours  at  the  temperature  of  the  stomach, 
eighty  degrees  Fah. 

The  ordinary  caterpillars  also  belong  here  ;  they 
soon  died,  even  at  a  low  temperature,  in  water. 
They  can  get  into  the  stomach  with  salad,  or  as 
far  as  concerns  the  smooth  sixteen-footed  cater- 
pillar of  Aglossa  pinguinalis,  which  lives  in  old 
fat  or  butter,  and  is  therefore  frequently  found  in 
the  kitchen  and  cellar  with  fat  articles  of  food. 
This  caterpillar  was  found  by  Rolander  and  Linne 
in  the  faeces  or  vomitings,  and  regarded  by  the 
latter  as  very  dangerous  in  the  human  intestine. 
If  they  are  soon  thrown  up,  they  are  either  still 
alive,  or  retain  their  form  ;  but  if  this  takes  place 
later,  they  must  bear  more  or  less  distinct  traces 
of  digestion  about  them.  In  the  fseces  they  hardly 
can  be  found  again,  or  only  in  cases  of  very  im- 
perfect digestion,  and  with  violent  diarrhoea  to 
drive  them  very  rapidly  through  the  intestines. 
The  same  applies  to  the  Gordius  aquatlcus^  which, 
however,  from  the  hardness  of  its  epidermis,  may, 
perhaps,  long  resist,  if  not  death,  at  least  diges- 


OF   THE    HUMAN   BODY.  93 

tion.  It  might  probably  reach  the  stomach  by  the 
use  of  worm-eaten  fruit. 

In  southern  countries,  leeches  {Hodmopis  vorax) 
are  readily  swallowed  with  water,  and  these  are 
said  to  be  able  to  live  some  time  in  the  human 
body,  causing  violent  internal  hemorrhages.  This 
is  mentioned  by  Larrey,  and  it  was  also  expe- 
rienced at  the  siege  of  Mahon. 

Lastly,  it  may  be  stated,  that  hairs,  fibres,  and 
undigested  flesh,  passed  with  the  fseces,  have  been 
described  as  parasites  of  man.  The  careful  practi- 
tioner will  be  easily  able  to  avoid  mistakes. 

The  hair  of  the  processionary  caterpillar  (^Bom- 
hyx processioned) ,  which  forms  on  oaks  a  bag-shaped 
cocoon  often  as  large  as  a  man's  head ,  is  very  dan- 
gerous to  man.  Nicolai's  observations  and  re- 
searches have  proved  that  the  caterpillar  usually 
appears  during  the  middle  of  May,  at  first  to  the 
number  of  from  ten  to  twelve,  on  the  bark  of  the 
oak,  from  whence  it  wanders  to  the  first  buds  and 
twigs  of  the  oak.  Each  single  caterpillar  is  from 
the  fourth  to  the  third  of  an  inch  in  length,  and 
of  the  color  of  the  bark  of  the  oak. 

They  have  long,  stiflf,  black  and  white  hairs  or 
bristles,  and   a  black  stripe  on  the   back.     This 


94  FALSE   PARASITES 

little  band  of  from  ten  to  twelve  caterpillars  (prob- 
ably relatives)  keep  together  on  a  twig,  and  eat 
during  night  and  day"  They  grow  rapidly,  learn 
to  move  more  quickly,  upwards  of  one  hundred 
and  more  uniting,  and  forming  a  wandering  colony, 
in  order  to  attack  larger  branches.  They  wander 
thus  from  twig  to  twig,  casting  their  skin  for  the 
first  time  towards  the  end  of  May,  by  rubbing 
against  the  uneven  bark  of  the  oak.  They  are 
now  of  from  one-third  to  one-fourth  of  an  inch 
long,  of  a  gray  color,  distinctly  showing  twelve 
segments,  and  on  the  top  of  each  segment  a  black 
shield,  with  very  short,  velvet-like  hair,  of  a  pecu- 
liar lustre.  The  laro:e  hairs  are  rans^ed  in  from 
two  to  three  bunches  on  each  segment,  having 
lower  down  on  their  sides  eight  spiracles,  and  eight 
pairs  of  legs. 

During  the  time  of  the  casting  .oft*  of  the  skin, 
the  gray  caterpillar  becomes  yellowish-brown, 
lustreless,  stronger,  but  lazier.  The  caterpillars 
mostly  gather  where  a  branch  w^ithers,  and  attach 
themselves  so  firmly  by  spinning  a  cocoon,  that 
caterpillar  and  bark  seem  one.  The  cocoon  is 
thin  and  transparent,  and  attached  to  its  inner 
part  is  the  cast  skin.     These  caterpillars  have  quite 


OF   THE  ^UMAN   BODY.  95 

the  appearance  of  the  former,  and  begin  their  wan- 
derings afresh — a  caterpillar  leading  each  troop, 
having  attached  to  ity  tail  other  caterpillars,  and 
so  on.  They  grow  now  very  large,  and  collect 
together,  at  the  end  of  June  or  the  beginning  of 
July,  in  increasing  numbers.  The  caterpillars, 
placing  themselves  side  by  side,  or  one  above  the 
other,  cast  their  skin  a  second  time,  and  wander 
again,  leaving  threads  behind  on  the  path  of  their 
emigration.  They  are  now  excessively  voracious, 
and  deposit  largely  the  matter  which  is  so  obnox- 
ious to  men  and  animals.  Being  now  more  than 
one  inch  in  length,  and  very  strong,  they  are  seen 
to  make  long  journeys,  annexing  all  smaller  troops 
which  they  meet  on  their  way.  They  gather  at 
last  on  the  trunk  of  a  thick  tree,  placing  them- 
selves side  by  side  to  the  extent  of  a  man's  hand, 
and  then  one  above  another,  in  three  or  four  rows, 
after  which  some  of  the  larger  caterpillars  are  seen 
to  creep  from  underneath,  and  spin  all  round  the 
heap.  The  spinners  are  relieved  by  others  at 
regular  periods,  and  from  six  to  eight  caterpillars 
may  be  seen  on  the  cocoon  which  is  usually  fast- 
ened to  the  sunny  side  of  the  trees,  rarely  to  the 
stormy  and  northern  side,  at  a  considerable  height, 


96  FALSE   PARASITES 

close  to  the  twigs,  and  where  a  twig  or  branch  is 
decaying.  A  hole  is  left  in  the  cocoon  for  the 
passing  in  and  out  of  the  caterpillars,  which  is 
always  guarded  by  several  large  caterpillars. 
These  guards  allow  only  larger  caterpillars  to  pass, 
preventing  all  smaller  ones  which  may  happen  to 
follow  from  entering,  and  appointing  for  their  use 
a  separate  place  close  to  the  nest,  from  whence 
they  are  led  by  a  larger  caterpillar  on  new  excur- 
sions, to  young  leaves,  the  leader  returning  to  its 
nest.  The  larger  caterpillars  deposit  faeces  in  the 
nest,  which,  fallinsr  amonsf  the  threads  of  the 
cocoon,  render  the  latter  more  opaque,  and  more 
capable  of  resisting  external  influences.  This 
closing  up  happens  usually  at  the  end  of  July  or 
beginning  of  August.  Each  caterpillar  prepares 
for  itself  a  separate  case  or  cocoon  inside  the  large 
cocoon,  which  is  of  a  gray -yellow  color,  and  silk- 
like appearance.  The  single  cocoons  of  the  cater- 
jDillars  resemble,  in  the  method  of  their  spinning, 
that  of  Bombyx  mori;  they  are,  however,  more 
oval,  smaller,  and  very  rich  in  the  yellow,  powdery 
substance,  of  which  we  shall  have  to  speak.  The 
cocoons  are  formed  in  one  night.  The  butterfly 
escapes  towards  the  end  of  August,  by  softening 


OF   THE    HUMAN   BODY.  97 

the  threads  of  its  cocoon  with  its  saliva,  and  thus 
dissolves  them.  It  copulates,  lays  eggs,  and  dies. 
Many  of  the  chrysalides  in  the  cocoons  were  de- 
stroyed by  white,  worm-like,  hairless  parasites. 

The  inhabitants  of  Westphalia,  in  Germany,  are 
well  acquainted  with  the  important  and  dangerous 
diseases  and  sufferings  which  are  caused  by  these 
caterpillars,  both  in  men  and  animals.  It  is  very 
doubtful  whether  the  noxious  substance  which  acts 
like  a  poison,  creating  redness,  itching,  and  burn- 
ing of  the  external  and  inflammation  of  the  inter- 
nal parts,  and  causing  even  death,  consists  of  the 
long  hairs  of  the  caterpillar.  According  to  some 
writers,  the  nest  or  cocoon  is  to  be  looked  upon  as 
the  cause  of  these  disorders ;  whilst  others  say 
that  they  are  caused  by  an  acrid  noxious  juice 
which  the  caterpillar  is  thought  to  secrete  when  it 
creeps  over  the  surface  of  the  skin.  Nicolai  con- 
vinced himself  of  the  impossibility  of  the  latter 
cause,  for  he  observed  itching  pustules  on  his  fore- 
arms, which  were  covered  with  clothing,  though 
the  caterpillar  had  never  come  near  them.  On  one 
occasion,  when  attempting  to  attach  to  a  board  a 
large  caterpillar  by  means  of  pins,  and  for  this 
purpose  piercing  its  black  back  shield,  he  saw  on 


98  FALSE   PARASITES 

the  edge  of  the  shield  a  reddish-yellow,  fine,  dust- 
like,  saffron-colored    powder    proceed   from   the 
shield,  without  the  latter  being  altered  in  the  least. 
The  interior  of  this  spot  showed  no  especial  organ 
nor  opening.     Later  observations,   however,  are 
said  to  have  discovered  underneath  these  reddish 
spots  two  large  warts,   which  almost   touch   one 
another,  and  which  are  especially  noticed  when  the 
caterpillar  casts  its  skin,  and  has  become  deprived 
of  its  hair.     The  same  dust  was  found  by  Nicolai 
in  the  nests  and  cocoons  in  the  parts  which  sur- 
round the  chrysalis.     The  caterpillar  also  exuded 
this  substance  on  being  touched  with  a  knife  on 
the  black  shields.     On  coming  into  contact  with 
the  moist  skin,  it  caused,  after  eight  hours,  red, 
itching   pustules,    but   produced   no    effect  when 
brought  into  contact  with  the  dry  or  oiled  skin. 
The  dust  loses  its  peculiar  power  by  being  pre- 
served in  spirits    of  wine.     Ratzeburg   observed 
that  feeding  the  caterpillars  shut  up  in  a  glass, 
and  the  necessary  repeated  opening  of  the  glass, 
were  sufficient   to    cause  inflammation.     Lameil, 
Physician  to  the  Lunatic  Asylum  at  Charenton, 
observed,  after  the   lapse  of  ten  years  even,  on 
openmg  aglass  which  contained  a  piece  of  a  cocoon. 


OP   THE    HUMAN   BODY.  99 

similar  effects.  The  microscope  shows  the  dust 
to  consist  of  very  fine,  straight,  spiry,  minute  hairs, 
beset  with  barbs.  They  are  exceedingly  light, 
swim  on  water,  and  are  sometimes  carried  away 
by  the  wind,  flying  about  for  some  time  in  the 
forest.  The  dust  is  carried  on  to  objects  and  into 
the  air  by  the  creeping  of  the  caterpillar  on  a  damp 
place,  by  touching  it,  by  moving  through  the  air, 
and  by  the  falling  of  drops  of  rain  on  the  bark. 
This  dust  seems ,  however,  only  to  be  formed  after  the 
second  and  last  casting  of  the  skin  of  the  caterpillar. 
In  places  where  the  caterpillar  is  of  frequent 
occurrence,  the  animals  which  come  into  the 
forests  are  attacked  by  various  diseases  :  sheep, 
by  inflammation  of  the  eyes  and  violent  coughing  ; 
cows  and  goats,  by  the  same  symptoms,  with  in- 
ternal inflammations  and  ulcers  all  over  the  skin, 
the  violent  itching  of  which,  makes  the  animals 
restless,  and  drives  them  almost  to  madness ; 
horses  more  especially  suffer  from  it.  The  dis- 
eases of  the  eye  caused  by  it  are  :  Blenorrhoea  of 
the  conjunctiva,  dimness  of  vision,  and  perforation 
of  the  eye.  People  become  exposed  to  this  poison 
by  staying  in  a  forest,  by  sleeping,  working,  or 
taking  a  ride,  playing,  cutting  down  wood  even  in 


100  FALSE   PARASITES 

winter- time,  by  gathering  fruit,  as  strawberries, 
which  grow  under  the  oak-trees,  by  collecting 
grass,  litter,  or  the  fallen  leaves  of  forests.  The 
diseases  which  follow  are  violent  inflammation  of 
the  eye,  erythema  of  the  e^^elids,  blenorrhoea, 
coughing,  inflammation  of  the  throat  and  the 
lungs,  violent  itching  and  scalding  eruptions  of 
the  skin  (nettle-rash),  and  general  fever.  The 
question  is,  whether  the  above-described  dust — 
which  is  found,  according  to  Xicolai,  more  partic- 
ularly on  the  edges  of  the  black  shields  of  each 
segment  lining  the  shields  with  a  brownish-red  and 
delicate  border,  and  which  is  velvet-like,  very 
fine,  lustrous,  and  soft,  and  which  can  be  loosened 
and  shaken  away  at  the  caterpillars  pleasure  —  be 
merely  a  mechanical,  or  also,  at  the  saine  time,  a 
chemical  irritant ;  opinion  difiers  somewhat. 

Treatment  and  Projphylaxis. —  The  destruction 
of  the  caterpillars  by  burning  and  singeing  them 
by  means  of  wisps  of  straw,  or  by  sweeping  them 
off  the  trunks  of  the  trees  and  crushing  them  on 
the  ground,  is  always  dangerous  to  the  operator, 
since  the  dust  is  dispersed  in  the  air.  Obstacles 
to  their  migration,  such  as  coal-tar,  tarred  paper, 
and  digging  trenches  round  the  trees,  are  of  no 


OF   THE   HUMAN   BODY.  101 

avail,  as  the  caterpillar  simply  goes  round  them, 
and  crosses  even  small  brooks.  I  think  it  would 
be  best  to  discover  the  nests,  and  wrap  them  up 
with  rags  soaked  in  oil,  and  then  to  cut  away  the 
branch,  and  to  burn  or  bury  it.  It  would  be 
well,  however,  to  destroy  the  insect  in  the  chrys- 
alis state  towards  the  end  of  July  or  middle  of 
August,  before  the  butterfly  creeps  out,  in  order 
to  restrict  its  propagation,  or  to  hunt  up  and 
annihilate  the  latest  brood  which  exists  before  the 
second  casting  of  the  skin,  without  the  dangerous 
dust.  It  would,  therefore,  be  necessary  to  search 
from  the  beginning  of  May  to  the  beginning  of 
June,  for  the  wandering  troops.  The  collector 
of  nests  and  caterpillars  will  do  well  to  use  a  blunt 
hoe,  to  wear  gloves,  and  to  oil  the  skin.  There 
are  generally  only  one  or  two  nests  in  each  tree. 
The  caterpillar  has  but  few  enemies  in  the  animal 
kingdom,  of  which  I  may  mention  the  ichneumon. 
Birds  seem  to  be  afraid  of  it.  Precautions  ought 
to  be  taken  to  prevent  persons  entering  infected 
forests  by  means  of  notices,  by  the  digging  of 
ditches,  etc.  The  pasturing  of  animals  in  such 
forests,  and  the  gathering  of  fodder  and  litter, 
should  be  forbidden.     The  gathering  of  fruits  of 


102  FALSE    PARASITES,    ETC. 

any  kind  should  be  unconditionally  interdicted ; 
and,  in  case  nests  are  discovered  when  oaks  or 
pines  are  cut  down,  they  should  be  carefully  re- 
moved, as  mentioned  above,  without  hewing  them 
to  pieces,  and  the  Avood-c utter  advised  not  to  place 
himself  towards  the  wind. 

Direct  Treatment. — When  the  dust  has  been 
deposited  on  an  individual,  it  is  recommended  by 
Ratzeburg  to  employ  cold  douche  baths.  Nicolai 
recommends  milk  poultices  in  the  case  of  inflam- 
mations of  the  ej^e  and  the  erysipelatous  inflamma- 
tion of  the  eyelid ;  rubbing  in  of  oil  on  the  more 
sensitive  reddened  parts,  or  appljdng  fomentations 
or  lotions  with  milk.  When  the  throat  or  tonsils 
have  become  inflamed,  oily  emulsions,  salad  oil, 
and  milk,  are  recommended ;  but  if  the  bronchi 
and  lungs  are  inflamed,  a  more  powerful  antiphlo- 
gistic treatment  is  required :  remedies  which 
allay  and  restrict  the  irritation,  especially  emetics, 
when  there  is  a  tendency  to  sickness,  and,  on  the 
whole,  a  quick  and  energetic  treatment. 

Popular  superstition  augurs  a  year  of  dearth 
from  the  appearance  of  this  caterpillar,  and  its  mi- 
grations from  west  to  south,  or  from  southern 
to  northern  countries. 


jv«^yvi^?i%<i^iv»^:«^%^%.^^^^« 


B 


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The  Eye  in  Health  and  Disease*  Being  a  Series  of 
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